POLICE  DEPARTMENT 
OF  THE  CITY  OF  BOSTON 


A RECORD 


OF  THE 


ENFORCEMENT  OF  THE  LAWS 


AGAINST 

SEXUAL  IMMORALITY 

SINCE 

DECEMBER  1,  1907 

AS  CONTAINED  IN  THE  INFORMATION  RELAT- 
ING THERETO  EMBODIED  IN  THE  REPORTS 
TO  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  MASSACHU- 
SETTS MADE  ANNUALLY  BY  THE 
POLICE  COMMISSIONER  FOR 
THE  CITY  OF  BOSTON 


WITH  ADDED  MATTER 


CITY  OF  BOSTON 
PRINTING  DEPARTMENT 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/recordofenforcem00bost_0 


QlS-c 


LAW  ENFORCEMENT  AGAINST  SEXUAL 
IMMORALITY  SINCE  DEC.  1,  1907. 


Total  extinction  of  public  and  semipublic  sexual 
immorality  in  a city  of  the  size  of  Boston  cannot  be 
hoped  for,  can  hardly  be  imagined;  but  effectual  restraint 
can  be  applied.  I do  not  mean  restraint  by  license  as 
practised  in  the  cities  of  other  continents  the  world 
over,  and  as  tried  at  times  in  this  country.  Neither  do  I 
mean  the  restraint  common  to  almost  all  cities  of  the 
United  States  with  populations  large  enough  to  raise 
the  question, — the  restraint  which  attempts  to  confine 
vice  to  particular  localities,  which  says  to  brothel 
keepers  that  within  territories  bounded  by  certain 
streets  they  may  carry  on  their  business  untroubled,  or 
at  worst  with  no  greater  inconvenience  than  a fine 
imposed  with  such  regularity  and  moderation  as  to 
become  practically  a license  fee;  which  guarantees  pros- 
titutes in  houses  or  out-of-doors  within  designated 
sections  against  the  danger  of  prosecution;  which 
assures  licentious  men  that  for  breaches  of  the  law  com- 
mitted within  certain  territorial  limits  there  is  neither 
punishment  nor  exposure. 

Restraint  by  license  is  a surrender  to  vice  under 
authority  of  law;  restraint  by  segregation  is  a compro- 
mise with  vice  illegally  made,  a nullification  of  laws  by 
public  officers  appointed  to  enforce  them.  Either  license 
or  segregation  condemns  whole  neighborhoods,  in  which 
the  vicious  are  but  a minority,  to  the  common  brand  of 
infamy,  and  fails  nevertheless  to  save  other  neighbor- 
hoods from  incursions  of  vice. 

When  I speak  of  restraint,  therefore,  I mean  the 
restraint  which  is  founded  on  effective  laws,  vigilant 
performance  of  police  duty  and  that  responsive  action 
by  courts  and  juries  without  which  both  laws  and  police 
are  powerless.  Until  a specific  law  is  violated  by  a 


2 


particular  person,  the  police  can  only  watch;  and  when 
the  offence  is  detected,  they  can  do  no  more  than  present 
the  offender  and  their  evidence  to  a court.  It  is  a judge 
in  a lower  court  who  finds  guilt  or  innocence  and  orders 
punishment,  and  in  a higher  court  it  is  the  verdict  of  a 
jury  which  makes  possible  or  impossible  the  imposition 
of  a penalty  by  a judge. 

The  problem  of  mercenary  sexual  vice  is  thousands  of 
years  old;  even  in  Boston  its  official  record  covers  nearly 
two  centuries.  As  early  as  1718,  the  population  being 
then  but  10,000,  “Mary  Porcell,  Abigail  Thurston  and 
Esther  Ray  were  publicly  whipped  for  being  night 
walkers,  and  afterwards  fined  ten  shillings  each.” 

Sixteen  years  later,  in  1734,  “a  mob  demolished  a 
house  of  ill  fame  under  the  countenance  of  some  well- 
meaning  magistrates.” 

In  1753  “a  female  accused  of  lewdness  was  exposed 
nearly  naked  on  a scaffold  near  the  Townhouse  for  the 
space  of  an  hour,  facing  each  of  the  four  cardinal  points 
fifteen  minutes,  suffering  the  most  disgusting  and  brutal 
treatment  by  a mob.” 

In  1796  the  Boston  watch  was  reorganized  and  one  of 
the  duties  with  which  it  was  charged  was  “to  enter 
houses  of  ill  fame.” 

In  1816,  an  effort  having  been  made  to  build  a new 
workhouse,  it  was  said:  “As  respects  the  Hill,  it  consists 
principally  of  drunkards,  harlots,  spendthrifts,  and  out- 
casts from  the  country;  in  truth,  Beelzebub  holds  a 
court  there,  and  almost  every  town  in  the  Commonwealth 
has  a representative.  These  are  great  nuisances,  but 
every  large  town  has  them,  whether  governed  by  Select- 
men, or  Mayor  and  Aldermen,  in  spite  of  jails  and  work- 
houses,  and  probably  will  till  the  millennium.” 

The  population  of  Boston  at  that  time  was  about 
35,000,  and  the  extract  just  quoted  shows  that  the 
presence  in  the  city  of  many  lewd  women  from  other 
places  is  not  a new  social  condition. 

In  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  when  the  population 
of  Boston  was  about  one-fourth  its  present  size,  immoral 


3 


practices  were  carried  on  so  boldly  and  so  extensively 
that  it  was  possible  to  arrest  scores  of  men  and  women 
at  a single  descent.  In  one  such  effort,  April  23,  1851, 
in  which  fifty  policemen  and  an  equal  number  of  the 
watch  were  engaged,  165  persons  were  arrested  in  one 
part  of  the  city.  In  another  descent,  October  22,  1858, 
fifty-one  women  were  arrested,  most  of  them,  as  de- 
scribed by  the  recorder,  being  young,  and  many  of 
them  having  been  in  the  city  but  a few  months. 

These  few  historical  notes  chosen  from  many  that 
might  be  used  show  that  in  Boston  as  elsewhere  public 
immorality  is  deep-rooted.  It  has  outlived  all  agencies 
employed  for  its  extermination,  from  the  whipping 
post  of  bodily  punishment  to  the  probation  system  of 
moral  suasion.  It  will  survive  as  long  as  there  are 
bad  men  and  women  whose  vices  offer  a means  of 
profit.  It  can  be  held  in  check  and  perhaps  gradually 
reduced  whenever  the  laws,  the  courts  and  the  police 
faithfully  and  intelligently  cooperate.  Over  the  first 
two  I have  no  control;  for  the  police  I avow  both 
authority  and  responsibility.  The  record  of  their  work 
in  recent  years  is  in  the  pages  which  follow  and  the 
quality  of  that  work  is  at  the  judgment  of  every  reader. 


Stephen  O’Meara, 

Police  Commissioner  for  the  City  of  Boston. 


4 


DECEMBER  J,  1907,  TO  NOVEMBER  30,  1908. 

[From  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Police  Commissioner  for  the 

City  of  Boston  for  the  Police  Year  ended  Nov.  30,  1908.] 

Until  this,  the  third  year  of  my  service  as  Police  Com- 
missioner, I have  refrained  from  discussing  the  rela- 
tions of  the  Police  Department  to  houses  of  ill  fame, 
night  walking  and  other  forms  of  public  or  semipublic 
immorality.  Sincere  but  inexperienced  sociologists  and 
humanitarians  will  discuss  the  subject  at  a moment’s 
notice,  but  after  two  and  a half  years  of  study,  with 
the  advantage  of  daily  access  to  all  forms  of  police 
information,  I am  still  unprepared  to  do  more  than  to 
state  and  analyze  facts,  and  to  touch  the  mere  edge  of 
criticism  and  suggestion. 

Houses  of  III  Fame. 

There  is  a tradition  in  Boston  that  fourteen  years 
ago,  under  the  direction  of  a chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Police,  then  lately  appointed,  houses  of  ill  fame  were 
closed  and  their  keepers  prosecuted  in  great  numbers. 
Nothing  in  the  records  of  the  department  justifies  this 
tradition.  In  1894  the  number  of  persons  prosecuted 
for  keeping  houses  of  ill  fame  was  46,  and  in  1895  the 
number  was  69.  The  popular  belief  at  that  time, 
which  still  exists,  must  have  had  its  origin  in  the  publicity 
with  which  the  work  was  then  carried  on,  and  the 
knowledge  that  in  the  year  immediately  preceding, 
1893,  the  prosecutions  had  numbered  but  19. 

Public  clamor  will  never  close  a house  of  ill  fame, 
but  it  will  spread  demoralization  through  the  commu- 
nity. The  people  who  live  by  this  business  care  nothing 
for  public  opinion.  They  can  be  reached  only  through 
the  silent,  relentless  work  of  the  police;  and  it  was 
through  such  work  in  1908  that  114  persons  were  brought 
into  court  charged  with  keeping  houses  of  ill  fame. 
This  is  the  largest  number  in  thirty  years,  and  therefore 


5 


the  history  of  Boston,  as 
isecutions  will  show: 

i the  following  statement  of 

1879  . 

51 

1894  . 

46 

1880  . 

23 

1895  . 

69 

1881  . 

25 

1896  . 

72  . 

1882  . 

52 

1897  . 

54 

1883  . 

63 

1898  . 

31 

1884  . 

67 

1899  . 

68 

1885  . 

43 

1900  . 

. 100 

1886  . 

84 

1901  . 

55 

1887  . 

50 

1902  . 

55 

1888  . 

25 

1903  . 

80 

1889  . 

55 

1904  . 

. 66 

1890  . 

27 

1905  . 

52 

1891  . 

31 

1906  . 

. 65 

1892  . 

40 

1907  . 

74 

1893  . 

19 

1908  . 

. 114 

Legal  Evidence  Difficult  to  Obtain. 

In  order  to  secure  evidence  for  these  114  prosecutions, 
205  suspected  houses  and  apartments  were  searched  by 
the  police,  and  the  whole  number  of  searches  in  those 
places  was  402. 

The  difficulties  of  this  work  are  not  in  the  least  under- 
stood by  the  public.  It  seems  to  be  impossible  to  make 
even  persons  of  intelligence  realize  that  no  one  can  be 
convicted  of  a crime,  not  even  a keeper  of  one  of  these 
houses,  unless  a specific  offence  can  be  charged,  with 
precise  and  abundant  evidence  to  sustain  it,  in  the  calm 
and  judicial  atmosphere  of  a court,  and  with  a skillful 
attorney  employed  by  the  defendant  to  overthrow  the 
case.  An  indignant  citizen  who  feels  sure  of  the  bad 
character  of  a house  demands  that  it  be  closed  by  the 
police.  He  forgets  that  we  are  not  in  an  Asiatic  des- 
potism; that  in  this  country  every  person  is  held  to  be 
innocent  until  his  guilt  has  been  proved;  that  the  one 
thing  which  is  of  value  to  the  police  is  the  very  thing 
which  he  cannot  produce,  or  refuses  to  produce,  and 
that  is  evidence  that  will  convince  or  help  to  convince 
a court  or  jury.  He  protests  that  men  and  women 


6 


drive  up  to  the  house  and  drive  away  late  at  night,  that 
there  are  lights,  music  and  merriment;  and  in  his 
simplicity  he  does  not  know  that  if  a policeman  were  to 
go  before  a judge  asking  for  a warrant  on  such  a state 
of  facts  he  would  be  told  that  he  did  not  know  his  busi- 
ness, that  the  appearances  which  he  described  were  to 
be  found  nightly  in  Commonwealth  avenue  and  Beacon 
street  as  well  as  in  the  shady  quarters  of  the  city.  He 
does  not  know  that  “ spotter”  evidence  — the  evidence 
of  a man  who  for  pay  would  enter  these  houses  and 
join  in  their  orgies  — would  not  be  worth  the  time  it 
would  take  to  present  it  to  a scornful  jury.  He  does  not 
know  that  the  law  by  its  provisions  classes  a house  of 
ill  fame  as  less  dangerous  to  the  community  than  a 
place  where  trivial  gaming  is  going  on;  that  the  police 
may,  with  a warrant  but  without  warning,  break  in  the 
doors  of  a house  in  which  it  is  suspected  that  men  are 
playing  cards  or  shaking  dice  for  money,  but  that  the 
only  practicable  way  in  which  they  can  legally  enter  a 
house  of  ill  fame  is  by  means  of  a search  warrant  for 
liquor,  obtained  in  advance  from  a court  and  subject 
to  many  chances  of  becoming  known. 

Although  the  police  made  114  prosecutions  last  year 
there  were  “ high-class”  houses,  so  called,  whose  keepers 
they  could  not  reach.  Another  year  will,  perhaps, 
show  a different  result.  There  are  houses  of  this  char- 
acter to  which  no  man  is  admitted  unless  known  to  the 
keepers  or  in  the  company  of  others  who  are  known. 
The  critical  citizen  supposes  that  any  man  is  welcomed 
at  any  of  these  places  unless  he  is  suspected  of  being  a 
policeman.  There  are  other  houses  which  no  man 
enters  and  but  few  women  inhabit.  They  have  their 
accredited  customers  among  men,  and  their  clients 
among  women,  and  by  means  of  the  telephone  cus- 
tomers and  clients  are  brought  together  in  places  not 
under  the  scrutiny  of  the  police. 

How  Keepers  are  Punished. 

The  114  persons  charged  with  keeping  houses  of  ill 
fame  having  been  brought  into  court,  what  was  done 


7 


with  them?  Taking  the  action  of  the  lower  courts  only, 
for  there  were  some  appeals  which  it  would  be  difficult 
to  follow  through  the  procedure  of  the  Superior  Court, 
the  disposition  of  cases  was  as  follows: 


49 

7 

16 

11 

3 
2 
1 
7 
1 
9 

4 
3 
1 


Fined  $50 

Fined  $100 

Discharged 

Placed  on  file 

Placed  on  probation 

Prison  at  Sherborn  .... 

Pending 

House  of  Correction  one  year 
House  of  Correction  eleven  months 
House  of  Correction  six  months  . 
House  of  Correction  four  months 
House  of  Correction  three  months 
House  of  Correction  one  month  . 


Total 114 

With  the  discharges  no  fault  can  be  found,  for  doubt- 
less the  evidence  was  not  strong  enough  to  convince 
the  courts.  But  that  fourteen  cases  should  have  been 
placed  on  file  or  on  probation,  either  of  which  disposi- 
tion implies  guilt,  is  puzzling.  No  person  goes  into  the 
business  of  keeping  a house  of  ill  fame  by  accident,  on 
impulse  or  through  sudden  temptation.  All  such 
persons  are  of  mature  years,  for  they  own  or  occupy 
houses  or  apartments,  and  they  must  be  so  hardened  to 
vice  as  to  be  free  from  the  danger  of  contamination  by 
the  inmates  of  any  prison.  If  they  express  repentance 
when  they  have  been  caught  and  convicted,  it  could 
be  worked  out  better  after  a term  of  imprisonment 
than  immediately  following  a release  without  punish- 
ment. 

The  sentence  in  almost  half  the  cases  was  a fine  of 
$50,  which  is  not  even  the  maximum  money  penalty 
provided  by  law.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  Common- 
wealth should  condone  such  an  offence  as  this  for  any 
sum  of  money  paid,  and  especially  for  a pittance  that 


8 


can  be  charged  to  the  profit  and  loss  account  without 
embarrassment  to  the  business  or  interruption  of  its 
successful  progress. 

Penalties  for  Violating  the  Liquor  Law. 

But  besides  the  114  prosecutions  for  keeping  houses  of 
ill  fame,  the  402  searches  developed  evidence  on  which 
were  based  43  prosecutions  for  violation  of  the  liquor 
law,  which  in  the  lower  courts  were  disposed  of  as 
follows: 


Fined  $50 26 

Fined  $75 1 

Fined  $100 4 

Discharged 6 

Placed  on  file 3 

Placed  on  probation 1 

House  of  Correction  three  months  ...  1 

Pending 1 


Total 43 


It  will  be  noticed  that  the  prevailing  fine  ($50)  is  as 
heavy  in  the  liquor  cases  as  in  the  cases  of  convictions 
for  keeping  houses  of  ill  fame. 

Inmates  of  Houses. 

As  a further  result  of  the  police  searches  78  men  and 
130  women,  in  addition  to  the  keepers,  who  were  found 
in  these  houses,  were  arrested,  either  as  actually  engaged 
in  the  commission  of  crime  or  as  idle  and  disorderly 
persons.  Their  cases  were  disposed  of  in  the  lower 
courts  as  follows: 


Fined  $20 135 

Fined  $15 3 

Fined  one  cent 2 

Placed  on  probation 27 

Placed  on  file . 9 

Discharged 8 

Defaulted 2 


Carried  forward 


186 


9 


Brought  forward 186 

House  of  Correction  one  year  ....  1 

House  of  Correction  sik  months  ....  1 

House  of  Correction  four  months  ...  9 

House  of  Correction  three  months  ...  4 

House  of  Correction  two  months  ....  1 

House  of  Correction  one  month  ....  1 

Prison  at  Sherborn 3 

Jail  three  months 1 

Jail  fifteen  days 1 


Total 208 


The  78  men  were  released  on  payment  of  fines.  Of 
the  83  persons  punished  in  any  way  for  keeping  houses 
of  ill  fame,  27  were  sentenced  to  imprisonment.  Of  the 
83  women  who  were  mere  inmates  of  the  houses,  not 
their  keepers,  who  were  punished  in  any  way,  22  were 
sentenced  to  imprisonment. 

Immorality  in  the  Streets. 

The  work  of  the  police  for  the  suppression  of  open 
immorality  in  the  streets  took  the  form  of  prosecution 
of  common  night  walkers  and  of  women  and  girls  not 
properly  to  be  classed  as  night  walkers  but  nevertheless 
guilty  of  immoral  acts  and  conduct.  The  persons  prose- 
cuted as  night  walkers  numbered  249,  and  their  cases 
were  disposed  of  in  the  lower  courts  as  follows: 


Probation 99 

On  file 9 

Defaulted 6 

House  of  Correction  one  year  ....  2 

House  of  Correction  six  months  ....  7 

House  of  Correction  four  months  ....  42 

House  of  Correction  three  months  ...  36 

House  of  Correction  two  months  . 10 

House  of  Correction  one  month  ....  2 

Prison  at  Sherborn 30 

State  Farm 4 

Lancaster  School 1 

Fined 1 


Total  . 


249 


10 


Women  and  girls  arrested  in  the  streets  but  not 
properly  to  be  classed  as  common  night  walkers  num- 
bered 119,  and  the  lower  courts  made  the  following 
disposition  of  their  cases: 


Probation 19 

Discharged 3 

On  file 2 

Delivered  to  parents 41 

Delivered  to  probation  officer  ....  1 

Defaulted 2 

Held  for  grand  jury 2 

Fined 12 

Pending 3 

Prison  at  Sherborn 8 

Jail 2 

State  Farm 1 

Lancaster  School 3 

House  of  Correction  five  months  ....  3 

House  of  Correction  four  months  ....  5 

House  of  Correction  three  months  ...  7 

House  of  Correction  two  months  ....  3 

House  of  Correction  one  month  ....  2 


Total 119 


In  some  cases  probation  was  allowed  on  condition 
that  the  persons  convicted  should  go  voluntarily,  for 
certain  periods  of  time,  to  unofficial  institutions  of  a 
reformatory  character,  such  as  the  House  of  the  Good 
Shepherd. 

From  personal  familiarity  with  the  streets  of  Boston 
at  night  for  more  than  thirty  years  I can  say  con- 
fidently that  open  soliciting  is  now  less  common  than 
ever  before.  But  on  the  other  hand,  unfortunately, 
the  number  of  girls  from  twelve  to  seventeen  years  of 
age  roaming  the  streets  at  night,  far  from  their  homes, 
and  learning  the  lessons  of  prostitution,  has  increased 
in  the  past  few  years  with  startling  rapidity. 


11 


A General  Statement. 

A summary  of  prosecutions  by  the  police  for  the  year 
in  the  directions  described  above  is  as  follows: 


For  keeping  houses  of  ill  fame  . . .114 

For  violating  the  liquor  law  in  known  or  sus- 
pected houses  of  ill  fame 43 

For  presence  in  such  houses  when  searched,  not 
as  keepers  but  as  inmates  or  patrons  . 208 

As  common  night  walkers 249 

For  immoral  conduct  or  acts  in  the  public  streets,  119 


Total 733 

I am  not  so  simple  as  to  suppose  that  any  combination 
of  effort  by  courts  and  police  can  ever  drive  vice  of  this 
character  from  a city  which  has  620,000  inhabitants, 
and,  for  police  purposes,  almost  double  that  number. 
It  is  trying  and  thankless  work,  which  falls  mainly 
upon  the  police  of  three  divisions.  They  have  been 
faithful  and  energetic  and  will  so  continue  not  in  the 
expectation  of  accomplishing  the  impossible  but  with 
the  determination  to  make  the  business  of  vice  so  hazard- 
ous and  unprofitable  that  as  many  as  possible  will  be 
driven  out  of  it  and  others  will  be  deterred  from  taking 
it  up. 

I shall  make  no  recommendations  for  changes  in  the 
laws  until  further  opportunity  has  been  given  for  the 
more  effective  use  of  laws,  however  imperfect,  which  are 
already  in  existence. 


12 


DECEMBER  J,  1908,  TO  NOVEMBER  30,  1909, 

[From  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Police  Commissioner  for  the 

City  of  Boston  for  the  Police  Year  ended  Nov.  30,  1909.] 

The  annual  report  of  the  Boston  Police  Department 
has  included  for  many  years  a statistical  table  of  arrests 
for  offences  against  chastity  and  morality.  The  normal 
number  of  such  arrests  in  a year  represents  faithful  police 
work;  a marked  increase  is  proof  of  exceptional  vigi- 
lance and  activity.  The  table  which  follows  gives  the 
whole  number  of  arrests  for  offences  against  chastity 
and  morality  in  each  of  the  last  eight  years,  those  years 
being  chosen  because  they  represent  not  only  the  present 
police  administration  but  the  three  next  preceding 
administrations : 


Year. 


1902 

1903 

1904 

1905 

1906 

1907 

1908 

1909 


Arrests  for  Offences 
against  Chastity 
and  Morality. 

. 704 

. 709 

. 876 

. 807 

. 895 

. 843 

. 1,165 
. 1,432 


This  table  omits  from  the  total  of  each  year  the 
figures  covering  certain  small  items  which  are  included 
in  the  regular  statistical  tables  but  represent  disorder 
rather  than  immorality.  On  the  other  hand,  all  yearly 
totals  in  this  table  include  some  offences  involving  sexual 
immorality,  such  as  rape  and  indecent  assault,  which 
are  usually  classified  under  the  heading  “ Offences 
against  the  Person.”  As  the  figures  of  all  years  are 
treated  uniformly,  the  means  of  comparison  are  perfect. 

A closer  view,  showing  the  three  great  causes  of  arrest 
on  account  of  sexual  immorality,  is  given  in  the  following 
comparative  statement: 


13 


Arrests  for 

1902. 

1903. 

1904. 

1905. 

1906. 

1907. 

1 

1908. 

1909. 

Fornication 

138 

94 

253 

284 

260 

279 

375 

520 

Keeping  house  of  ill  fame .... 

55 

80 

66 

52 

65 

74 

114 

112 

Night  walking 

259 

271 

236 

190 

249 

169 

249 

375 

Totals 

452 

445 

555 

526 

574 

522 

738 

1,007 

With  these  offences  and  with  conditions  affecting 
them,  the  matter  which  follows  will  deal. 

Houses  of  III  Fame. 

The  number  of  persons  prosecuted  in  1908  for  keep- 
ing houses  of  ill  fame  was  114,  much  the  largest  up  to 
that  time  in  the  history  of  the  department.  The  num- 
ber in  1909  was  112;  and,  because  of  the  diminishing 
material  upon  which  to  work,  the  procuring  of  evidence 
for  the  prosecutions  in  the  second  year  doubtless 
required  double  the  effort  on  the  part  of  the  police  that 
was  required  in  the  first  year.  The  prosecutions  for 
keeping  houses  of  ill  fame  each  year  for  thirty  years  are 
shown  in  the  following  table: 


1880  . 

. 23 

1895  . 

69 

1881  . 

. 25 

1896  . 

72 

1882  . 

. 52 

1897  . 

54 

1883  . 

. 63 

1898  . 

31 

1884  . 

67 

1899  . 

68 

1885  . 

43 

1900  . 

. 100 

1886  . 

. 84 

1901  . 

55 

1887  . 

. 50 

1902  . 

. 55 

1888  . 

. 25 

1903  . 

80 

1889  . 

55 

1904  . 

. 66 

1890  . 

27 

1905  . 

. 52 

1891  . 

. 31 

1906  . 

65 

1892  . 

. 40 

1907  . 

. 74 

1893  . 

19 

1908  . 

. 114 

1894  . 

46 

1909  . 

. 112 

The  evidence 

on  which  to 

base  these  112  prosecutions 

was  obtained  through  police  efforts  of  many  kinds,  includ- 
ing 295  searches  with  warrants  in  115  different  places. 


14 


The  lower  courts  disposed  of  the  cases  of  persons 
prosecuted  for  keeping  houses  of  ill  fame  in  the  years 
1908  and  1909  as  shown  in  the  following  table: 

1908.  1909. 

49  51 

1 

7 6 

16  13 

11  8 

3 5 
2 
1 

7 3 

1 

1 

2 

9 5 

4 5 

3 7 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 
1 

Totals 114  112 

The  penalties  in  1909  indicate  no  change  on  the  part 
of  the  courts  in  their  estimate  of  the  gravity  of  this 
crime  and  the  difficulty  of  securing  evidence  for  con- 
victions. 

In  1908  the  penalties  imposed  upon  ninety-seven 
persons  who  were  convicted  reached  a total  of  $3,150 
in  fines  and  175  months  of  imprisonment,  besides  two 
persons  sent  to  the  Women’s  Prison  on  indeterminate 
sentences. 


Fined  $50 

Fined  $75 

Fined  $100 

Discharged 

Placed  on  file 

Placed  on  probation 

Prison  at  Sherborn 

Pending 

House  of  Correction  one  year 
House  of  Correction  eleven  months  . 
House  of  Correction  nine  months 
House  of  Correction  eight  months 
House  of  Correction  six  months  . 

House  of  Correction  four  months 
House  of  Correction  three  months 
House  of  Correction  two  months 
House  of  Correction  one  month  . 

House  of  Correction  nine  months  and  $100 

fine 

House  of  Correction  three  months  and 

$100  fine 

House  of  Correction  two  months  and  $75 

fine 

Common  jail  six  months  .... 


15 


In  1909  the  penalties  imposed  upon  ninety-nine 
persons  who  were  convicted  reached  a total  of  $3,500 
in  fines  and  154  months  of  imprisonment. 

The  maximum  penalty  under  the  nuisance  act  is 
$100  fine  or  twelve  months  of  imprisonment  or  both. 
The  maximum  fine  was  imposed  in  1908  in  seven  cases, 
and  in  1909  in  six  cases;  the  maximum  imprisonment  in 
1908  in  seven  cases,  and  in  1909  in  three  cases.  In  no 
case  in  either  year  did  a court  impose  the  maximum 
combined  penalty  of  $100  fine  and  twelve  months  of 
imprisonment. 

The  searches  in  suspected  houses  of  ill  fame  disclosed 
evidence  on  which  were  based  twenty  prosecutions  for 
violating  the  liquor  law,  with  the  following  results: 


Fined  $50 11 

Fined  $100 1 

House  of  Correction  three  months  ...  3 

Discharged 4 

Placed  on  file 1 

Total 20 


Inmates  and  Patrons. 

The  searches  of  houses  of  ill  fame  resulted  further  in 
the  arrest  on  the  premises  of  135  men  and  167  women, 
other  than  the  keepers  of  the  places,  who  were  either 
actually  engaged  in  the  commission  of  crime  or  were 
open  to  prosecution  as  idle  and  disorderly  persons.  The 
manner  in  which  these  cases  were  disposed  of  in  the  lower 
courts,  all  the  men  being  released  on  payment  of  fines, 
is  shown  in  the  table  which  follows,  in  comparison 
with  the  disposition  of  similar  cases  in  the  year  1908: 

1908.  1909. 


Fined  $20  135  216 

Fined  $15 3 12 

Fined  $10 - 2 

Fined  one  cent 2 - 

Placed  on  probation 27  24 


Carried  forward 167  254 


16 


Brought  forward 167  254 

Placed  on  file 9 15 

Discharged 8 6 

Defaulted 2 3 

House  of  Correction  one  year  ...  1 

House  of  Correction  six  months  ...  1 1 

House  of  Correction  four  months  .93 
House  of  Correction  three  months  ..48 
House  of  Correction  two  months  ..11 
House  of  Correction  one  month  ...  1 7 

Prison  at  Sherborn 3 2 

Jail  three  months 1 

Jail  fifteen  days 1 

Lancaster  School - 1 

Held  for  grand  jury - 1 

Totals 208  302 


The  birthplaces  of  the  167  women  prosecuted  in  con- 
sequence of  having  been  found  in  houses  of  ill  fame  were 


as  follows: 

United  States 113 

Canada  and  British  Provinces  ....  22 

Ireland 19 

England 5 

Russia 4 

Scotland 2 

Austria  . ' 1 

Germany 1 

Total 167 


The  ages  of  the  women  prosecuted  in  consequence  of 
having  been  found  in  houses  of  ill  fame,  given  under  the 
heads  of  native  born  and  foreign  born,  are  shown  in  the 
following  table : 


Years. 

Born  in  Foreign 
U.  S.  Born. 

Totals. 

17 

1 

- 

1 

19 

6 

1 

7 

20 

9 

2 

11 

21 

12 

2 

14 

Carried  forward 

28 

5 

33 

17 


Brought  forward 

28  5 

33 

22 

11  3 

14 

23 

11  2 

13 

24 

5 1 

6 

25 

7 1 

8 

26  to  30 

26  15 

41 

31  to  35 

13  12 

25 

36  to  40 

5 11 

16 

41  to  50 

6 2 

8 

Above  50 

1 2 

3 

Totals 113  54 

167 

Night  Walkers. 

The  work  of  the  police  for  the  suppression 

of  open 

immorality  in  the  streets  took  the  form  of  prosecution 
of  common  night  walkers  and  of  women  and  girls  not 
properly  to  be  classed  as  common  night  walkers  but 
nevertheless  guilty  of  immoral  acts  and  conduct.  The 
persons  prosecuted  as  night  walkers  numbered  375,  and 

their  cases  were  disposed  of  in  the 

lower  courts  as 

follows,  comparison  being  made  with  the  year  1908: 

1908. 

1909. 

Probation 

. 99 

172 

On  file 

9 

8 

Defaulted 

6 

12 

Fined 

1 

1 

House  of  Correction  one  year 

2 

- 

House  of  Correction  six  months  . 

7 

12 

House  of  Correction  four  months 

42 

52 

House  of  Correction  three  months 

. 36 

44 

House  of  Correction  two  months 

10 

11 

House  of  Correction  one  month  . 

2 

1 

Prison  at  Sherborn  .... 

30 

45 

State  Farm 

4 

10 

Lancaster  School 

1 

— 

Jail  four  months  '..... 

— 

2 

Jail  three  months 

- 

1 

Discharged 

. 

2 

Pending 

. 

2 

Totals 

. 249 

375 

18 


The  birthplaces  of  the  375  persons  prosecuted  as 
common  night  walkers  were  as  follows : 


United  States 266 

Canada  and  British  Provinces  ....  52 

Ireland 22 

Russia 7 

Austria 5 

Sweden 5 

England 4 

Germany 3 

Norway 3 

Italy 2 

Spain 2 

France  1 

Hungary 1 

Poland 1 

Scotland  .........  1 

Total 375 


The  ages  of  the  persons  prosecuted  as  common  night 
walkers  given  under  the  heads  of  native  born  and 
foreign  born  are  shown  in  the  following  table: 


Years. 

16  . 

17  . 

18  . 

19  . 

20 

21  . 

22 

23  . 

24  . 

25  . 

26  to  30  . 
31  to  35  . 
36  to  40  . 
Above  40 


Born  in  Foreign  T , , 
U.  S.  Born.  lotals- 

1 - 1 


1 

- 

1 

6 

3 

9 

12 

3 

15 

11 

3 

14 

27 

5 

32 

38 

11 

49 

38 

13 

51 

15 

14. 

29 

16 

5 

21 

62 

24 

86 

21 

19 

40 

12 

7 

19 

6 

2 

8 

Totals 266  109  375 


19 


Women  and  girls  arrested  in  the  streets  but  not 
properly  to  be  classed  as  common  night  walkers  num- 
bered forty-six,  and  the  disposition  of  their  cases  was  as 
follows : 


Discharged  at  stations 3 

Delivered  to  parents 15 

Delivered  to  State  Board  of  Charities  ...  3 

Delivered  to  private  institutions  ....  3 

Placed  on  probation 11 

Sent  to  Women’s  Prison 6 

Sent  to  State  Farm 1 

Fined 2 

Pending 2 

Total 46 


These  persons,  though  conducting  themselves  in  an 
immoral  manner  in  the  streets,  were  in  most  cases  hardly 
more  than  delinquent  or  wayward  children,  as  the  ways 
in  which  their  cases  were  disposed  of  indicate.  Of  the 
forty-six  the  number  twenty-one  years  of  age  or  under 
was  forty-one.  Their  birthplaces  were  as  follows: 


United  States 41 

Canada  and  British  Provinces  ....  2 

Russia 2 

Austria 1 

Total 46 


Significance  of  Ages  and  Birthplaces. 

I now  bring  together  for  purposes  which  will  appear 
later  certain  fresh  information  concerning  the  ages  and 
the  birthplaces  of  women  and  girls  prosecuted  in  Boston 
in  a single  year  for  specific  offences  of  three  kinds  against 
the  laws  of  chastity  and  morality.  There  is  a prevalent 
belief  that  the  women  and  girls  who  so  offend  are  of 
immature  age  and  in  most  cases  of  foreign  birth.  This 
belief  has  been  created  largely  and  fostered  mainly  by 
persons  whose  peculiarity  of  temperament,  lack  of 


20 


information,  or  interested  motives  lead  them  to  exag- 
gerate what  may  be  called  the  humanitarian  aspect  of 
vice  as  distinct  from  the  legal  aspect. 

In  1909  the  Boston  police  prosecuted  167  women  and 
girls  who  were  found  in  places  resorted  to  for  prosti- 
tution, though  not  the  keepers,  and  in  a majority  of 
instances  not  even  residents  of  those  places.  They 
prosecuted  127  women  and  girls  for  fornication  com- 
mitted in  other  places,  such  as  ordinary  lodging  houses 
or  even  the  public  parks  and  streets,  which  could  not 
be  proceeded  against  as  houses  of  ill  fame.  They 
prosecuted  375  women  and  girls  as  common  night 
walkers.  These  three  classes  of  prosecutions  involved  a 
total  of  669  women  and  girls,  and  it  is  with  them  that 
this  information  deals.  The  first  table  relates  to  the 
matter  of  birth  as  follows: 


Birthplace. 

Arrested 
in  Resorts 
of  Prosti- 
tution. 

Arrested 
for  Forni- 
cation in 
Other 
Places. 

Arrested 
as  Com- 
mon 
Night 
Walkers. 

Totals. 

United  States 

. 113 

93 

266 

472 

Canada  and  British  Provinces,  22 

12 

52 

86 

Ireland 

19 

15 

22 

56 

England  . 

5 

2 

4 

11 

Russia 

4 

2 

7 

13 

Scotland  . 

2 

- 

1 

3 

Austria 

1 

- 

5 

6 

Germany 

1 

1 

3 

5 

Hungary  . 

. 

1 

1 

2 

Poland 

. 

1 

1 

2 

Sweden 

- 

- 

5 

5 

Norway  . 

. 

- 

3 

3 

Italy 

. 

- 

2 

2 

Spain 

. 

- 

2 

2 

France 

. 

- 

1 

1 

Totals 

. 167 

127 

375 

669 

The  following  table  gives  the  ages  of  the  669  persons 
under  consideration,  those  of  the  native  born  and  of  the 
foreign  born  being  stated  separately: 


21 


Years. 

15 

16  . 

17  . 

18  . 

19 

20  . 

21 

22 

23  . 

24 

25  . 

26  to  30 
31  to  35 
36  to  40 
41  to  50 
Above  50 


Born  in 
U.  S. 

Foreign 

Born. 

Totals. 

1 

- 

1 

1 

- 

1 

3 

- 

3 

9 

3 

12 

20 

4 

24 

23 

9 

32 

44 

7 

51 

62 

15 

77 

55 

16 

71 

29 

17 

46 

24 

6 

30 

109 

49 

158 

47 

41 

88 

26 

22 

48 

18 

4 

22 

1 

4 

5 

Totals 


472  197  669 


The  following  considerations  are  appropriate  to  the 
study  of  the  foregoing  figures: 

1.  At  21  years  of  age  or  under  the  native  born  in 
the  second  table  number  101,  the  foreign  born  23;  but 
between  30  and  40  years  the  native  born  are  73  and  the 
foreign  born  63.  Herein  is  no  suggestion  of  exceptional 
youthfulness  among  the  foreign  born. 

2.  By  the  census  of  1905  it  appears  that  of  the  women 
in  Boston  between  the  ages  of  18  and  50,  both  inclusive, 
46.63  per  cent  are  foreign  born.  Of  the  women  offenders 
of  the  same  ages  treated  in  the  foregoing  tables  29.29 
per  cent  are  foreign  born.  Assurance  is  thus  given  that 
there  is  no  excess  of  foreign  born  among  offenders  of 
this  character. 

3.  The  whole  number  of  arrests  in  Boston  in  1909 
for  all  offences  was  71,512,  and  the  arrests  of  the  foreign 
born  were  45.77  per  cent.  Of  the  669  women  arrested 
for  the  particular  offences  under  consideration  here,  the 
percentage  of  foreign  born  was  29.45.  It  appears, 
therefore,  that  when  foreign-born  women  become  law 


22 


breakers  their  offences  do  not  show  an  excess  in  the 
direction  of  sexual  immorality. 

4.  The  census  of  1905  shows  that  of  the  109,416 
foreign-born  females  in  Boston  102,535  had  been  resi- 
dents of  Massachusetts  more  than  two  years  and 
85,277  more  than  five  years.  The  percentage  for  two 
years’  residence  is  93.71  and  for  five  years’  residence 
77.94.  The  foreign-born  women  in  the  foregoing  tables 
number  197,  and  according  to  the  above  facts  184  of 
them  would  have  been  residents  of  Massachusetts  more 
than  two  years  and  153  more  than  five  years. 

5.  Of  the  197  foreign-born  women  156  were  natives 
of  English-speaking  countries,  the  birthplaces  of  half  of 
them  being  within  a day’s  journey  of  Boston;  so  that 
on  the  day  of  their  arrival  they  would  have  displa3^ed 
no  peculiarity  of  language,  dress  or  manners  to  dis- 
tinguish them  from  the  mass  of  the  settled  population. 
Of  the  669  women  but  41  of  any  age  or  of  any  length 
of  residence  here  were  natives  of  non-English-speaking 
countries. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  these  669  women  were 
arrested  separately  and  from  time  to  time  through  a 
period  of  twelve  months;  that  they  were  presented  to 
the  courts  and  with  few  exceptions  were  convicted; 
that  they  were  real  women  guilty  of  real  offences,  and 
that  an  aggregate  thus  obtained  is  far  different  from  a 
result  produced  through  the  multiplication  of  one  “pet” 
case  by  as  many  hundreds  as  the  imagination  of  the 
multiplier  will  sanction.  The  facts  as  to  ages,  birth- 
places and  terms  of  residence  herein  set  out  should  be 
an  assurance  to  the  people  of  Boston  that  the  immoral 
life  of  their  city  is  not  sustained  by  the  feeding  to  it  of 
young  and  helpless  foreigners. 

“White  Slavery.” 

This  topic  follows  naturally  upon  the  foregoing 
matter.  The  term  “White  Slave”  as  applied  to  a 
particular  phase  of  prostitution  was  coined  many  years 
ago,  probably  in  London.  It  was  meant  at  first  to 


23 


describe  a girl  or  a woman  who  had  been  enticed  from 
her  home  in  a foreign  country,  placed  in  a brothel 
without  suspicion  on  her  part  as  to  what  she  was  to 
become  and  there  kept  against  her  will.  Soon  it  was 
made  to  include  any  girl  or  woman  who  passed  from  one 
country  to  another  and  entered  a similar  resort,  even 
though  she  were  of  depraved  character  and  fully  under- 
stood her  situation. 

Careless  use  has  carried  the  term  far  beyond  its  first 
or  even  its  second  meaning  and  into  the  region  of  the 
indefinable.  Sober-minded  persons  employ  it  as  a con- 
venience, often  with  an  apology;  but  because  of  its 
sharp  appeal  to  popular  imagination  it  has  become  a 
plaything  for  persons  of  a different  type,  who  use  it  to 
stimulate  as  well  as  to  express  a certain  form  of  hysteria. 
It  is  so  effective  in  shocking  the  innocent  and  in  moving 
the  benevolent  that  no  opportunity  for  its  use  is  passed 
over,  whether  the  “ white  slave”  be  a rowdy  girl  walk- 
ing the  streets  or  a mature  woman  of  hardened  character 
and  many  criminal  convictions. 

There  is  no  ground  for  even  reasonable  suspicion  that 
in  Boston  women  or  girls  are  forced  into  an  immoral 
life  or  compelled  to  remain  in  it  under  physical  coercion 
or  restraint.  If  such  a case  were  known  to  the  police 
the  victim  would  be  released  at  once  and  her  keepers 
arrested.  A person  who  knew  of  such  a case  and  failed 
to  inform  the  police  would  be  as  black  a criminal  as 
the  criminals  themselves;  and  a person  who  pretended 
to  such  knowledge  without  possessing  it  might  fairly 
be  set  down  as  an  irresponsible  gossip.  Single  cases 
arise  from  time  to  time  in  which  it  appears  that  a 
woman  is  induced  to  lead  an  immoral  life  by  the  threats 
or  persuasions  of  a depraved  husband  or  so-called 
“ lover”;  but  rarely  in  such  cases  is  it  her  first  experi- 
ence in  mercenary  immorality,  and  release  from  the 
life  is  open  to  her  whenever  she  chooses  to  leave  the 
man. 

In  the  great  majority  of  cases  prostitution  is  practiced 
in  Boston  by  women  and  girls  who  do  not  depend  upon 


24 


it  exclusively  for  a livelihood  and  do  not  live  apart  for 
the  purpose.  They  are  prepared  for  semi-professional 
immorality  by  lack  or  disregard  of  religious  training; 
by  early  contact  with  the  vicious  in  speech  and  action; 
by  the  need  of  money  to  spend  for  necessaries,  or  more 
often  by  the  craving  for  means  to  buy  better  clothes 
than  they  can  afford;  by  flashy  public  entertainments 
and  reading  matter  which  rouse  their  bad  instincts, 
teach  them  the  forms  and  methods  of  vice,  enlarge 
upon  its  rewards  in  money  and  luxury,  stimulate 
vanity,  idealize  the  unchaste,  and  by  coarse  picture 
and  printed  sneer  degrade  the  home  and  caricature  the 
relations  of  husband  and  wife.  The  transition  from  a 
virtuous  life  to  a life  devoted  wholly  or  in  part  to 
mercenary  immorality,  the  only  kind  with  which  the 
law  and  the  police  have  much  to  do,  is  rarely  sudden. 
Almost  always  there  is  a preliminary  corrupting  process 
of  the  kind  just  described,  with  longings  for  luxuries, 
excitement  and  “good  times”;  and  the  bad  road  is 
much  more  likely  to  be  taken  at  last  under  the  guidance 
of  a girl  or  a woman  who  has  already  traveled  upon  it 
than  through  the  persuasions  of  men. 

Boston,  like  all  large  cities,  attracts  many  loose  or 
unfortunate  women  and  girls  who  come  to  it  from  other 
places  of  their  own  free  will;  and  if  they  pursue  an 
immoral  life  here  it  is  not  because  they  are  forced  to 
it  by  men  or  by  other  women  but  because  they  are 
vicious,  or  eager  to  spend  more  than  they  can  honestly 
earn,  or,  in  the  aspect  most  favorable  to  them,  are 
drawn  to  it  through  their  necessities.  It  is  not  of 
much  use,  however,  to  expend  sympathy  upon  a woman 
or  a girl  who  is  too  proud  to  ask  assistance  from  one  of 
the  scores  of  private  benevolent  organizations  which 
abound  in  Boston  but  is  not  too  proud  to  solicit  strange 
men  in  the  streets  or  to  sell  the  little  virtue  that  she 
ever  had  to  chance  acquaintances. 

Benevolent  men  and  women  in  and  about  Boston 
have  lately  been  shocked  and  imposed  upon  by  means 
of  a circular  issued  under  the  name  of  a chartered 


25 


organization  soliciting  subscriptions  of  money.  The 
circular  asserts  that  young  girls  are  “sold”  in  Boston 
for  immoral  purposes  and  “kept  by  heinous  methods 
from  their  freedom,”  and  to  this  it  adds,  “We  believe 
the  annual  traffic  in  human  souls  in  this  city  (Boston) 
amounts  to  hundreds.” 

From  a like  source  and  printed  in  Boston  newspapers 
of  large  circulation  I find  such  assertions  as  the  following : 

There  are  at  present  in  Boston,  according  to  a recent  canvass, 
4,963  women  gaining  a livelihood  altogether  or  in  part  for 
immoral  purposes. 

The  life  of  a “white  slave”  is  on  an  average  five  years,  and 
where  there  are  nearly  5,000  such  women  it  follows  that  their 
ranks  must  be  recruited  by  1,000  each  year.  Where  do  they 
come  from?  I find  that  the  Provinces  supply  the  largest  quota. 

The  last  sentence  is  as  grossly  libelous  upon  a worthy 
element  in  the  population  as  the  preceding  sentences  are 
absurd.  It  has  been  shown  already  in  this  report  that 
of  the  669  women  and  girls  arrested  in  Boston  last  year 
for  any  of  the  offences  which  might  connect  them  with 
“white  slavery”  in  even  the  most  fanciful  use  of  that 
term,  472  were  natives  of  the  United  States  and  86  were 
natives  of  Canada  or  the  British  Provinces.  And  yet 
this  authority  finds  that  “the  Provinces  supply  the 
largest  quota.”  The  “recent  canvass”  which  produced 
exactly  4,963  as  the  number  of  women  in  Boston  gaining 
a livelihood  altogether  “or  in  part”  by  immoral  means 
is  clearly  a myth,  and  the  calculations  based  upon  it 
are  equally  mythical.  Not  all  the  agencies  in  Boston 
combined,  the  Police  Department  included,  could  make 
a canvass  of  such  a character  that  would  be  worth  the 
paper  upon  which  it  was  recorded. 

Such  assertions  as  these  would  be  unworthy  of  notice 
but  that  they  are  used  in  soliciting  money;  that  they 
secure  publication  in  Boston  newspapers  which  are  read 
by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons  who  have  no  means 
of  detecting  the  folly  and  the  falsehood,  and  that  they  are 
copied  and  commented  upon  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 


26 


Because  of  these  considerations  I felt  it  to  be  my 
duty  to  the  City  of  Boston  to  secure  through  the  news- 
papers, under  my  official  signature,  the  widest  possible 
circulation  to  the  following  statement: 

A report  of  the  United  States  Immigration  Commission 
relative  to  the  “ importation  and  harboring  of  women  for 
immoral  purposes”  was  presented  last  week  to  Congress,  and 
parts  of  it  were  printed  in  the  Boston  newspapers.  This  is 
the  so-called  “ White  Slave  traffic,”  and  as  many  persons 
have  been  led  to  believe  that  Boston  was  deeply  involved 
I have  obtained  from  Washington  and  examined  carefully  a 
full  copy  of  the  report.  Though  it  consists  of  sixty-one  printed 
pages,  the  name  of  Boston  is  mentioned  but  four  times,  always 
in  the  most  casual  manner,,  as  for  instance,  that  it  is  one  of 
the  dozen  cities  in  which  investigations  were  made  and  that 
it  is  among  the  seaports  through  which  women  who  have  been 
sent  back  to  their  own  countries  may  sometimes  re-enter  the 
United  States.  There  is  no  suggestion  of  the  existence  in  Bos- 
ton of  conditions  which  prevail  in  some  other  cities  and  are 
fully  described  in  the  report.  While  so  many  persons  and 
organizations  are  endeavoring  to  promote  the  material  welfare 
of  Boston,  its  good  name,  which  is  better  than  “ great  riches,  ” 
needs  to  be  protected  from  the  assaults  of  societies  and  indi- 
viduals whose  recent  use  of  the  “ white  slave”  as  a means  of 
stimulating  subscriptions  has  been  varied,  persistent  and,  I 
think  I may  justly  say,  unscrupulous. 

Securing  Evidence. 

In  my  last  report  I explained  the  difficulty  of  securing 
evidence  strong  enough  to  convict  for  immoral  prac- 
tices, especially  in  the  case  of  keepers  of  houses  of  ill 
fame,  even  though  appearances  were  sufficient  to  con- 
vince an  ordinary  observer.  The  police,  moreover, 
stand  at  a disadvantage  in  so  far  as  results  are  con- 
cerned, for  they  are  compelled  to  keep  within  the  bounds 
of  both  law  and  morals;  they  are  allowed  to  enter  sus- 
pected places  as  police  officers  with  search  warrants,  or 
individually,  under  orders,  to  observe  and  report,  but  on 
no  account  to  take  part  in  immoral  acts  or  so  to  place 
themselves  as  to  be  open  to  the  charge  of  immorality. 


27 


Any  private  organization,  however,  with  no  official 
responsibility  and  eager  to  make  a case,  is  free  to  hire 
men  and  women  by  the  day  or  the  week  who  may  go 
to  any  lengths  for  the  sake  of  procuring  evidence.  They 
sometimes  betray  their  employers,  sometimes  invent 
or  exaggerate  in  order  to  earn  their  pay,  and  with  juries 
have  the  standing  which  they  deserve.  But  the  Police 
Department  cannot  use  its  men  in  such  ways,  and  would 
not  if  it  could.  The  men  of  the  police  force  are  re- 
quired to  be  manly  and  moral,  and  whatever  they  can 
do  under  their  official  obligation  in  a moral  and  manly 
way  for  the  suppression  of  vice  they  will  do  — nothing 
more.  They  have  not  the  gift  of  impersonating  degen- 
erates and  none  among  them  would  be  allowed  to  spend 
his  days  and  nights  with  degraded  men  and  women  for 
the  sake  of  securing  a conviction. 

In  some  other  cities  the  practice  is  different,  and  in 
support  of  the  attitude  of  the  Boston  Police  Depart- 
ment, though  it  needs  no  support,  I may  properly  quote 
a single  mild  passage  from  a long  and  searching  criticism 
uttered  from  the  bench  by  Mr.  Justice  Crane  of  the  New 
York  Supreme  Court  and  reported  in  August,  1909. 

Such  work,  he  says,  is  revolting  and  should  not  be  counte- 
nanced for  a moment,  much  less  compelled.  A policeman  may 
be  obliged  to  do  many  disagreeable  things,  but  he  is  human 
and  should  not  be  subjected  to  such  temptations  or  debasing 
influences,  and  I am  confident  this  community  does  not  demand 
nor  expect  it.  To  close  a disorderly  house  we  have  not  got 
to  degrade  young  men.  It  is  said  that  the  evidence  can  be 
procured  in  no  other  way.  In  this  I must  differ,  for  such 
places  have  frequently  been  closed  either  upon  testimony  of 
occupants  or  else  upon  what  can  be  seen  going  on  daily.  One 
does  not  have  to  take  poison  to  discover  its  deadly  effects.  I 
trust  this  word  of  warning  from  me  will  stop  such  practices. 

The  Boston  method  has  its  compensation  in  the  fact 
that  police  testimony  has  high  standing  with  the  courts. 
Of  112  persons  arrested  in  1909  for  keeping  houses  of 
ill  fame,  99  were  convicted;  and  the  13  discharges 


28 


represented  usually  those  cases  in  which  two  persons, 
such  as  husband  and  wife,  are  arrested  at  the  same 
place  and  the  individual  responsibility  can  be  determined 
only  on  hearing  in  court.  Of  302  persons  arrested  in 
houses  of  ill  fame,  other  than  the  keepers,  only  six 
were  discharged;  and  of  375  night  walkers  arrested  only 
two  were  discharged. 

The  Futility  of  Civil  Procedure. 

Surprise  is  often  expressed  by  lawyers  and  others 
that  the  police  do  not  have  recourse  in  the  pursuit  of 
houses  of  ill  fame  to  Revised  Laws,  chapter  101,  section 
8,  which  is  as  follows: 

The  supreme  judicial  court  or  the  superior  court  shall  have 
jurisdiction  in  equity,  upon  an  information  filed  by  the  dis- 
trict attorney  for  the  district  or  upon  the  petition  of  the  board 
of  police  or  police  commissioners,  or  other  authority  having 
control  of  the  police,  or  of  not  less  than  ten  legal  voters  of  a 
city  or  town,  stating  that  a building,  place  or  tenement  therein 
is  resorted  to  for  prostitution,  lewdness  or  illegal  gaming,  or 
is  used  for  the  illegal  keeping  or  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
to  restrain,  enjoin  or  abate  the  same  as  a common  nuisance. 

The  Boston  police  long  ago  tried  this  law  and  found 
it  wanting.  It  is  a rule  of  the  department  that  when  a 
conviction  has  been  secured  the  owner  of  the  real  estate 
involved  shall  be  notified  by  the  commanding  officer  on 
a printed  form  provided  for  the  purpose.  In  con- 
sequence of  such  notice  or  of  representations  made  to 
him  personally  an  owner  who  is  a good  citizen  will 
remove  an  offending  tenant.  But,  unfortunately,  many 
such  places  are  owned  by  persons  who  are  well  aware  of 
the  uses  to  which  they  are  put,  who  derive  large  incomes 
from  them  and  will  do  nothing  towards  removing 
nuisances  except  under  legal  compulsion.  At  this 
point  the  law  should  come  in,  and  its  weakness  may 
best  be  illustrated  by  means  of  a case  which  actually 
arose  within  the  year. 

The  secretary  of  a private  society  represented  that 
he  had  secured  sufficient  evidence  against  a particular 
house,  and  asked  the  Police  Department  to  apply  for 


29 


an  injunction  against  the  owner  of  the  property.  A 
petition  was  made  in  the  name  of  the  Police  Com- 
missioner, the  person  proceeded  against  offered  no 
defence  and  an  injunction  against  that  person  specifically 
was  granted. 

The  situation  then  was  this : If  it  could  be  shown  that 
the  house  was  resorted  to  for  purposes  of  prostitution 
after  the  injunction  had  been  issued  the  owner  of  the 
real  estate  might  be  punished  for  contempt  of  court; 
but  to  show  such  use  would  require  substantially  the 
same  kind  and  quantity  of  fresh  evidence  that  would  be 
needed  to  secure  criminal  conviction  of  the  keeper  of 
the  house. 

The  injunction  became  operative  September  14,  and 
the  police  continued  their  searches  and  surveillance  of 
the  place.  Then  the  expected  happened,  just  as  it  had 
happened  in  all  previous  cases  of  civil  procedure  within 
the  experience  of  the  police.  The  title  of  the  real  estate 
was  transferred  and  the  injunction,  except  under  legal 
conditions  which  probably  would  never  arise,  became 
worthless.  The  proceedings  had  cost  about  seventy- 
five  dollars  and  would  have  cost  a great  deal  more  but 
for  the  fact  that  the  legal  preparations  and  the  appear- 
ances in  court  were  made  by  the  commissioner’s  secre- 
tary. 

It  was  worth  while,  however,  in  order  that  a fresh 
test  of  the  futility  of  civil  procedure  might  be  given. 

In  the  enthusiasm  of  the  few  days  which  elapsed 
between  the  issue  of  the  injunction  and  its  overthrow 
by  the  simple  but  expected  process  of  a transfer  of  the 
title  of  the  property,  the  secretary  at  whose  request  the 
Police  Department  had  begun  proceedings  issued  in 
print  to  the  members  of  his  society  and  the  contributors 
to  its  fund,  several  of  the  Boston  daily  newspapers  also 
publishing  it,  the  following  account  of  the  affair: 

At  the  urgent  request  of  the  pastor  of  an  institutional  church 
situated  in  the  danger-zone  in  the  South  End  your  secretary 
undertook  the  task  of  gathering  the  necessary  court  evidence 
against  an  immoral  house  alleged  to  have  continued  unmolested 


30 


for  twenty-two  years.  Similar  repeated  appeals  to  the  police 
by  that  pastor  had  been  fruitless.  The  police  captain  of  the 
precinct  confessed  to  your  secretary  that  he  was  powerless  to 
close  this  house.  Yet  in  ten  days  our  agents  had  gathered 
overwhelming  evidence  of  the  extent  and  character  of  the 
illegal  business.  We  instituted  an  equity  action  under  a law 
which  allows  an  injunction  to  issue  to  restrain  and  abate  the 
nuisance.  The  injunction  was  allowed  and  a decree  issued 
which  if  not  obeyed  will  bring  the  offenders  into  court  for 
contempt.  If  the  authorities  will  now  station  officers  in  front 
of  the  place  as  they  have  in  other  instances  been  placed  before 
immoral  houses  not  under  injunction,  the  remedy  will  be 
effective.  If  this  is  not  done  the  society  will  have  to  see  that 
the  court  decree  is  enforced.  It  would  seem  that  the  public 
could  expect  at  least  such  service  from  the  police,  especially 
when  the  dignity  of  the  court  is  in  question. 

The  fantastic  assertions  and  suggestions  made  in  this 
statement  have  already  been  answered  in  part;  the 
official  police  record  of  the  house  itself  for  the  two  years 
ended  November  30,  1909,  will  dispose  of  the  remainder. 
The  house  was  searched  with  warrants  December  6 and 
15,  1907,  February  22,  March  13,  19  and  21,  April  17 
and  25,  May  23  and  26  and  August  13,  1908.  In  the 
same  period  it  was  visited,  under  orders,  but  without 
warrants,  by  policemen  from  other  stations,  in  citizens’ 
clothes,  January  28,  February  16  and  28,  March  4, 
10  and  15,  April  5.  15,  18,  22  and  25,  June  25  and  July  9, 
21  and  22,  1908.  No  single  search  developed  evidence 
sufficient  for  a prosecution,  and  the  policemen  in  citi- 
zens’ clothes  were  either  refused  admittance  because  of 
suspicion  as  to  their  identity  or,  if  admitted,  failed  to 
obtain  evidence  because  restricted  in  their  action  by 
their  orders  and  by  their  personal  sense  of  decency.  But 
by  combining  all  possible  points  of  evidence  a case  for 
the  court  was  prepared,  and  August  13,  1908,  the  keeper 
of  the  place  was  tried  and  convicted.  What  was  the 
result?  A fine  of  $50,  which  was  paid  without  a murmur, 
and  the  nominal  proprietorship  was  passed  on  to  another 


woman. 


31 


Following  this  and  before  the  sale  of  the  property  in 
October,  1909,  the  house  was  searched  three  times  and 
was  visited  twenty-one  times  by  policemen  in  plain 
clothes.  They  failed  to  secure  the  evidence  which  the 
private  agents  secured  in  ten  days,  for  the  sole  reason 
that  if  their  acts  had  qualified  them  to  give  the  testi- 
mony which  the  agents  gave  in  court  they  would  have 
been  discharged  from  the  police  force. 

This  house  is  closed  now  for  the  same  reason  that 
scores  of  other  houses  of  long  standing  in  that  and  other 
neighborhoods  have  recently  been  closed;  and  the  reason 
is  that  the  persistent  but  lawful  course  of  the  police 
has  so  alarmed  keepers,  inmates  and  patrons  that  the 
business  in  those  places  has  ceased  to  pay.  There  is 
nothing  peculiar  in  the  case  of  this  one  house  except* 
that  it  presents  the  single  instance  in  two  years  in  which 
the  police  in  the  prosecution  of  keepers  of  houses  of 
ill  fame  received  assistance  in  any  form  from  any  source 
other  than  such  as  their  own  efforts  developed. 

In  the  same  street,  which  is  short,  but  for  more  than  a 
generation  has  been  notorious,  nine  other  houses  have 
been  under  constant  surveillance. 

Houses  A,  B and  C have  been  searched,  but  no  evi- 
dence of  immoral  business  has  been  found. 

Houses  D and  E were  searched,  but  though  the 
evidence  found  was  insufficient  the  keepers  took 
warning,  moved  out,  and  respectable  tenants  took  their 
places. 

House  F was  searched  and  four  arrests  for  fornication 
were  made;  a warrant  for  keeping  a house  of  ill  fame 
was  refused  by  the  court,  but  the  keeper  moved  and 
the  house  is  now  occupied  by  respectable  tenants. 

House  G,  lodging  house,  keeper  convicted  of  keeping 
a house  of  ill  fame,  was  fined  $50,  and  the  immoral 
business  has  been  stopped. 

House  H,  apartment  occupied  by  man  and  wife;  wife 
arrested  July  4,  1909,  as  a common  night  walker  and 
case  placed  on  file;  July  7,  1909,  two  persons  arrested 
for  fornication;  July  9,  1909,  husband  arrested  for 


32 


keeping  a house  of  ill  fame  and  fined  $50;  moved  away 
and  place  now  occupied  by  respectable  people. 

House  I,  keeper  arrested  for  keeping  a house  of  ill 
fame,  fined  $50  and  moved  away;  under  new  tenant 
four  arrests  for  fornication  were  made,  but  warrant 
for  keeping  a house  of  ill  fame  was  refused  by  the  court, 
and  the  house  is  still  watched. 

Suppression  of  Public  and  Semipublic  Immorality. 

The  last  annual  report  described  fully  the  work  of  the 
police  for  the  suppression  of  public  and  semipublic 
immorality  during  the  year  which  ended  November  30, 
1908.  It  was  the  first  time  in  the  thirty  years  of  police 
control  by  commissioners  that  the  subject  had  appeared 
in  an  annual  report  otherwise  than  in  the  general  statis- 
tical tables  of  crime.  The  work  was  entered  upon  two 
years  ago  with  deliberation  and  has  since  been  carried 
forward,  and  will  continue  to  be  carried  forward,  in 
accordance  with  a well-considered  plan.  In  explanation 
of  the  plan  upon  which  the  police  are  acting  this  passage 
may  be  quoted  from  the  report  for  1908: 

Public  clamor  will  never  close  a house  of  ill  fame;  but  it 
will  spread  demoralization  through  the  community.  The 
people  who  live  by  this  business  care  nothing  for  public  opinion. 
They  can  be  reached  only  through  the  silent,  relentless  work  of 
the  police. 

And  again: 

I am  not  so  simple  as  to  suppose  that  any  combination  of 
effort  by  courts  and  police  can  ever  drive  vice  of  this  char- 
acter from  a city  which  has  620,000  inhabitants  and,  for  police 
purposes,  almost  double  that  number.  It  is  trying  and  thank- 
less work,  which  falls  mainly  upon  the  police  of  three  divisions. 
They  have  been  faithful  and  energetic  and  will  so  continue; 
not  in  the  expectation  of  accomplishing  the  impossible,  but 
with  the  determination  to  make  the  business  of  vice  so 
hazardous  and  unprofitable  that  as  many  as  possible  will  be 
driven  out  of  it  and  others  will  be  deterred  from  taking  it 
up. 


33 


Nothing  has  happened  in  the  past  year  to  change 
either  the  plan  or  the  point  of  view.  Police  action  has 
not  been  delayed  by  the  hostility  of  prosecuted  criminals 
and  their  friends;  neither  has  it  been  hurried  by  the 
impatience  of  persons  of  good  intention  who  do  not 
understand.  It  is  a peculiar  circumstance  that  mani- 
festations of  both  feelings  became  public  in  the  second 
half  of  the  second  year  in  which  the  police  had  done 
more  than  ever  had  been  done  before  in  Boston  for  the 
suppression  of  public  and  semipublic  immorality.  It 
would  be  unfortunate  for  the  city  if  either  kind  of  attack 
were  to  divert  a Police  Commissioner  from  an  effective 
and  permanent  course  of  action  upon  a subject  so 
important  and  yet  so  difficult. 

The  one  duty  of  the  police  in  this  matter,  and  the 
wisest  policy  as  well,  is  to  enforce  the  laws.  No  attempt 
to  transform  a house  or  a neighborhood  which  is  devoted 
to  vice  for  the  sake  of  the  money  which  it  earns  can  be 
of  permanent  benefit  unless  founded  on  law.  If  houses  of 
ill  fame  can  be  closed  on  a large  scale  and  immoral 
women  can  be  driven  from  the  streets  by  mere  threats 
on  the  part  of  the  police,  that  circumstance  is  in  itself 
a reasonable  indication  that  the  business  had  previously 
been  tolerated  and  that  when  the  spasm  of  reform  has 
passed  it  will  again  be  tolerated.  People  of  this  char- 
acter understand  the  kind  and  the  quantity  of  evidence 
needed  by  the  police  to  obtain  a conviction  and  how 
hard  it  is  to  secure  it;  they  regard  lightly  the  sentences 
usually  imposed;  they  know  their  legal  rights  and  are 
assisted  in  maintaining  them  by  expert  attorneys.  They 
will  give  up  the  business  only  when  convinced  through 
constant  but  lawful  pressure  that  it  has  ceased  to  be 
profitable  and  that  their  chances  of  gain  and  immunity 
are  better  elsewhere.  Their  old  plan  of  removal  from 
one  police  division  to  another  is  now  of  no  avail,  for  the 
police  pressure  is  equal  in  all  parts  of  the  city  to  which 
they  would  think  of  migrating. 

Here  is  the  illustrative  record  of  one  woman,  with  the 
street  numbers  omitted:  In  the  summer  of  1908  she 


34 


occupied  an  apartment  in  Bennet  street  and  let  rooms 
to  night  walkers;  searched  August  8,  1908,  but  evidence 
was  insufficient  to  prosecute;  September  1,  1908,  she 
moved  to  Harrison  avenue,  where  she  opened  a lodging 
house;  searched  November  29,  1908,  and  four  arrests 
for  fornication  made;  arrested  December  2,  1908,  for 
keeping  a house  of  ill  fame  and  fined  $50;  appealed,  but 
withdrew  appeal  and  paid  fine;  moved  off  the  division, 
but  in  July,  1909,  reappeared  in  an  apartment  in 
Broadway  extension,  where  she  let  rooms  to  night 
walkers;  searched  July  24,  1909,  and  liquor  seized; 
evidence  insufficient  to  prosecute  for  keeping  a house  of 
ill  fame,  but  convicted  September  2,  1909,  for  violation 
of  the  liquor  law,  fined  $50  and  vacated  the  premises. 
Where  this  woman,  who  is  a type  of  many,  will  reappear 
cannot  be  foretold,  but  wherever  it  may  be  the  police 
will  meet  her. 

In  the  last  annual  report  allusion  was  made  to  a police 
movement  in  1894  to  which  a great  deal  of  publicity 
was  given  at  the  time,  and  in  the  report  surprise  was 
expressed  that  the  recorded  results  in  the  form  of  prose- 
cutions were  so  meager.  I have  examined  again  the 
department  records  of  that  period  and  have  consulted 
with  officers  who  were  in  positions  of  authority  at  the 
time  and  I find  that  results  were  obtained  by  police 
threatenings  rather  than  by  process  of  law\  As  a 
consequence,  the  persons  who  closed  their  places  and 
scattered  soon  recovered  their  courage  and  resumed  the 
business,  knowing  that  they  could  be  punished  only  after 
conviction  of  an  offence  against  the  law. 

In  confirmation  of  this  belief  I quote  from  a letter 
addressed  by  a clergyman  to  the  chairman  of  the  Board 
of  Police  in  the  July  following  the  general  agitation  of 
1894.  Concerning  a particularly  bad  neighborhood  the 
letter  speaks,  in  part,  as  follows: 

The  time  has  now  come  for  the  law  as  well  as  the  gospel. 
They  are  paralyzing  all  our  efforts  to  do  good  here.  Some 
houses  are  worse  than  others,  and  I send  herewith  a list  of 
the  most  notorious  which  I desire  to  have  cleaned  out  imme- 


diately.  I am  especially  anxious  that  the  keepers  of  the  places 
are  caught  and  convicted.  Only  in  this  way  can  the  evil  be 
eradicated.  You  did  a fine  work  here  some  months  ago. 
But  they  are  back  again  as  brazen  and  bad  as  ever.  The  only 
thing  to  do  is  to  keep  them  on  the  move.  I realize  the  difficulty 
your  force  has  to  get  convicting  evidence  and  shall  be  glad  to 
render  them  any  assistance  in  my  power. 

The  houses  and  the  persons  of  the  character  described 
in  that  neighborhood  and  elsewhere  have  now  been 
kept  under  constant  but  legal  pressure  for  two  years. 
Some  of  the  results  of  the  work  are  shown  in  the  tables 
and  the  reading  matter  already  presented  in  this  report, 
but  only  a suggestion  of  the  detail. 

If  it  were  proper  to  publish  the  addresses  a remarkable 
list  of  notorious  houses  lately  closed  could  be  given. 
One  in  particular,  situated  in  what  is  now  a business 
street,  had  been  carried  on  as  a house  of  ill  fame  for 
fifty  years,  with  the  exception  of  the  period  between 
June  1,  1883,  and  August  1,  1886.  It  was  searched  often 
and  convictions  were  sometimes  obtained,  but  as  a 
different  woman  was  put  forward  on  each  occasion  as 
the  ostensible  proprietress  the  penalties  were  fines  of 
$50  or  $100,  which  were  merely  charged  to  profit  and 
loss.  At  the  time  of  the  public  police  movement  of  1894 
the  inmates  of  the  house  were  sent  to  live  in  rooms 
outside,  but  business  was  continued  by  the  proprietress 
through  assignations  made  by  telephone.  In  a few 
months,  the  storm  having  blown  over,  they  returned 
and  matters  went  on  as  before.  The  record  of  the  past 
two  years  shows  that  nine  searches  were  made  with 
warrants  and  that  officers  from  other  stations  were 
sent  to  the  place  twenty-six  times,  without  securing 
entrance,  as  only  persons  known  in  the  house  were 
admitted.  But  the  business  was  so  disturbed  that  the 
searches  of  October  22,  1909,  showed  that  but  two 
women  were  living  in  the  house,  that  there  was  no  liquor 
to  be  found  and  very  little  food.  Three  weeks  later, 
November  12,  the  house  was  vacated,  the  telephone 
taken  out,  most  of  the  furniture  sent  to  an  auction  room, 


36 


the  rest  removed  and  the  doors  were  locked.  Lawful 
pressure  on  the  part  of  the  police  had  made  the  business 
unprofitable,  and  when  the  proprietress  became  con- 
vinced that  the  pressure  was  to  be  continued  she  gave  up. 

The  following  is  the  record  for  two  years  of  a house 
which  has  not  yet  been  closed:  Twenty-three  searches 
and  two  liquor  seizures;  seven  different  women  put  for- 
ward as  the  proprietress,  representing  a change  after 
each  of  the  following  convictions:  March  3,  1908, 
violating  liquor  law,  fined  $50;  May  12,  1908,  liquor 
law,  $50;  August  12,  1908,  keeping  a noisy  and  disorderly 
house,  $50;  January  29,  1909,  liquor  law,  $50;  March  3, 
1909,  liquor  law,  $50;  March  26,  1909,  liquor  law,  $50. 

A notorious  house  was  closed  after  the  following  prose- 
cutions in  three  months : Violating  the  liquor  law,  fined 
$50;  liquor  law,  $100;  liquor  law,  discharged  by  court; 
house  of  ill  fame,  fined  $100;  house  of  ill  fame,  new 
ostensible  proprietress,  fined  $50;  liquor  law,  discharged 
by  court. 

Another  house  was  closed  in  July,  1909,  after  a siege  of 
eighteen  months  in  which  there  were  fifteen  searches 
without  result  and  the  following  prosecutions:  House 
of  ill  fame,  fined  $100;  house  of  ill  fame,  discharged  by 
court;  house  of  ill  fame,  placed  on  probation;  four 
women  arrested  as  idle  and  disorderly,  fined  each  $15; 
again,  five  women  arrested  on  the  same  charge,  fined 
each  $20. 

Another  house  in  the  same  street,  which  closed  also  in 
July,  1909,  was  searched  four  times  without  result,  but 
at  other  times  evidence  sufficient  for  the  following  prose- 
cutions in  less  than  two  years,  involving  seven  different 
keepers,  was  obtained:  Violating  liquor  law,  fined  $50; 
house  of  ill  fame,  fined  $50;  liquor  law,  $50;  house  of  ill 
fame,  $50;  house  of  ill  fame,  $50;  house  of  ill  fame,  $50; 
house  of  ill  fame,  discharged  by  court.  Though  the 
house  is  closed  a new  warrant  is  still  out  for  a former 
proprietress,  once  fined  $50,  who  has  disappeared. 

Scores  of  similar  cases  might  be  cited,  but  these  will 
suffice  to  show  to  the  uninformed  but  impatient  citizen 


37 


that  a rap  on  the  door  and  an  order  from  a policeman 
will  not  close  a house  of  ill  fame;  that  liquor  warrants 
must  be  obtained,  plans  laid  and  searches  made  by  groups 
of  policemen;  that  the  disappointments  in  securing 
evidence  are  far  more  numerous  than  the  successes;  that 
even  when  the  police  think  they  have  evidence  enough 
it  often  proves  in  the  sight  of  the  courts  insufficient  to 
convict;  and  that  the  penalties  on  conviction  are  not 
such  as  to  close  a place  which  is  doing  a profitable 
business. 

It  is  a fact,  moreover,  that  Boston  in  its  treatment 
of  what  is  commonly  called  the  “ social  evil”  is  peculiar 
in  one  important,  perhaps  vital,  respect.  Boston  is 
almost  the  only  city  of  its  size  or  perhaps  of  half  its  size 
in  the  United  States  in  which  the  police  refuse  to  set 
apart  prescribed  localities  where  houses  of  ill  fame 
may  be  carried  on  without  penalty  or  interference;  and 
Boston  is  right.  All  law  breakers  here  are  liable  to  the 
penalties  of  the  law  and  the  last  who  should  be  exempted 
are  those  who  make  a business  of  vice.  But  in  other 
cities  the  localities  in  which  vice  is  free  are  as  well  known 
as  the  Common  is  known  in  Boston.  In  a report  recently 
published  by  the  chief  of  police  of  a city  of  moderate  size 
in  the  middle  West,  he  cites  as  proof  of  his  severity 
towards  evil  doers  the  fact  that  he  has  ordered  the 
keepers  of  houses  of  ill  fame  in  the  privileged  territory  to 
take  the  name  plates  off  their  doors  and  remove  their 
red  lights. 

I received  lately  from  a United  States  commissioner  a 
schedule  of  questions  identical  with  those  sent  to  all 
other  cities.  It  was  made  up  in  the  belief  that  the 
toleration  of  vice  in  particular  localities  existed  here 
as  elsewhere.  But  the  questions  were  so  foreign  to 
all  conditions  in  Boston  that  practically  none  could  be 
answered  and  I was  obliged  to  say  in  my  reply: 

The  situation  in  Boston  is  totally  different  from  that  exist- 
ing in  other  cities  as  indicated  by  the  schedule  of  questions 
received  by  me.  In  Boston  there  is  neither  in  law  nor  by 
understanding  any  section  set  apart  within  which  prostitu- 


38 


tion  may  be  practiced  without  legal  liability.  Regulation 
and  registration  in  the  sense  implied  in  your  schedule  are 
therefore  impossible.  All  persons  engaging  in  the  business  or 
committing  acts  contrary  to  law  are  prosecuted  wherever 
found  and  whenever  sufficient  evidence  can  be  obtained. 

The  Police  Attitude. 

The  attitude  of  the  Boston  Police  Department  towards 
public  and  semipublic  sexual  immorality  and  some  of  the 
effects  of  its  work  in  two  years  have  been  shown  in  part 
in  this  report  and  in  the  report  for  1908.  The  police 
have  produced  results,  as  it  is  their  duty  to  do,  but  they 
are  not  responsible  for  one  drop  of  the  poisonous  stream 
of  description  and  speculation  touching  the  vilest  subject 
on  earth  which  lately  has  been  poured  through  some 
newspaper  columns  into  thousands  of  households.  It 
is  the  duty  of  the  police  to  do  this  work,  hateful  as  it  is  to 
manly  men;  and  they  do  it  faithfully  as  sworn  officers 
of  the  law,  not  as  volunteers  with  a taste  for  it.  By 
inclination,  moreover,  as  well  as  under  orders,  they 
work  in  silence.  News  of  searches  and  arrests  for 
violation  of  the  laws  against  immorality  is  not  furnished 
by  the  police,  and  the  newspaper  reports,  comic  or 
sensational,  formerly  based  thereon,  no  longer  appear. 
Paid  agents  of  societies  and  amateur  “sociologists,” 
some  sincere  but  unwise,  others  mercenary  and  reckless, 
are  endeavoring  to  fill  the  blank  thus  created.  The 
matter  which  they  print  serves  only  to  arouse  the 
dangerous  curiosity  of  the  innocent,  to  gratify  the 
prurient  tastes  of  the  depraved  and  to  supplement 
appropriately  the  lascivious  printed  and  pictured  sug- 
gestions which  occupy  adjoining  pages  and  constitute  for 
thousands  of  boys  and  girls  their  first  and  progressive 
lessons  in  vice.  The  police  prosecute  only  because  the 
laws  are  violated.  That  is  the  extent  of  their  official 
right  and  obligation;  but  as  citizens  they  rejoice  in 
good  work  by  whomsoever  honestly  carried  on  which 
tends  to  preserve  the  innocent  from  participation  in  vice 
or  to  reclaim  them  should  they  fall. 


39 


DECEMBER  1,  1909,  TO  NOVEMBER  30,  1910. 

[ From  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Police  Commissioner  for  the 

City  of  Boston  for  the  Police  Year  ended  Nov.  30,  1910.] 

The  particularly  vigorous  work  of  the  police  in  the 
years  1908  and  1909  for  the  suppression  of  public  and 
semipublic  sexual  immorality  was  continued  in  1910; 
but  the  previous  work  seems  in  itself  to  have  reduced 
in  some  directions  the  number  of  opportunities  for 
successful  action. 

The  table  which  follows  gives  the  whole  number  of 
arrests  for  offences  against  chastity  and  morality  in  each 
of  the  last  nine  years,  those  years  being  chosen  because 
they  represent  not  only  the  present  police  administration, 
but  the  three  next  preceding  administrations: 


Year. 

1902 

1903 

1904 

1905 

1906 

1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 


Arrests  for  Offences 
against  Chastity 
and  Morality. 

704 
709 
876 
807 
895 
843 
. 1,165 
. 1,432 
. 1,301 


This  table  omits  from  the  total  of  each  year  the  figures 
covering  certain  small  items  which  are  included  in  the 
regular  statistical  tables,  but  represent  disorder  rather 
than  immorality.  On  the  other  hand,  all  yearly  totals 
in  this  table  include  some  offences  involving  sexual 
immorality,  such  as  rape  and  indecent  assault,  which 
are  usually  classified  under  the  heading  “ Offences  against 
the  person.’’  As  the  figures  of  all  years  are  treated 
uniformly,  the  means  of  comparison  are  perfect. 


40 


A closer  view,  showing  the  three  great  causes  of  arrest 
on  account  of  sexual  immorality,  is  given  in  the  following, 
comparative  statement : 


Arrests  for 

1902. 

1903. 

1904. 

1905. 

1906. 

1907. 

1908. 

1909. 

1910. 

Fornication 

138 

94 

253 

284 

260 

279 

375 

520 

408 

Keeping  house  of  ill  fame 

55 

80 

66 

52 

65 

74 

114 

112 

60 

Night  walking 

259 

271 

236 

190 

249 

169 

249 

375 

366 

Totals 

452 

445 

555 

526 

574 

522 

738 

1,007 

834 

The  foregoing  figures,  in  common  with  some  others  in 
the  first  part  of  this  report,  will  show  a slight  variation 
from  those  to  be  found  in  the  statistical  tables  given  later. 
The  reason  is  that  in  this  place  court  prosecutions  are 
considered  and  in  the  tables  arrests  are  recorded.  At 
the  beginning  and  the  end  of  each  year  a slight  variance 
is  likely  to  arise  in  some  cases  because  the  arrest  and  the 
arraignment  in  court  do  not  take  place  on  the  same  day. 


Houses  of  III  Fame. 

The  number  of  persons  prosecuted  in  1908  and  1909  for 
keeping  houses  of  ill  fame  was  very  much  the  largest  in 
the  history  of  the  department,  and  to  that  fact,  as  well 
as  to  circumstances  which  will  be  described  later,  is  to 
be  attributed  the  reduction  in  the  number  prosecuted 
in  1910.  The  number  of  prosecutions  for  keeping  houses 
of  ill  fame  each  year  for  thirty  years  is  shown  in  the 
following  table: 


1881  . 
1882  . 

1883  . 

1884  . 

1885  . 

1886  . 

1887  . 

1888  . 


25 

1889  . 

52 

1890  . 

63 

1891  . 

67 

1892  . 

. 43 

1893  . 

. 84 

1894  . 

50 

1895  . 

25 

1896  . 

55 

27 

31 

40 

19 

46 

69 

72 


41 


1897  . 

1898  . 

1899  . 

1900  . 

1901  . 

1902  . 

1903  . 


54  1904  . 

31  1905  . 

68  1906  . 

100  1907  . 

55  1908  . 

55  1909  . 

80  1910  . 


66 

52 

65 

74 

114 

112 

60 


The  evidence  on  which  to  base  these  60  prosecutions 
was  obtained  through  police  efforts  of  many  kinds, 
including  369  searches  with  warrants  in  125  different 
places.  In  1909  the  number  of  places  searched  was  115 
and  the  number  of  searches  was  295.  The  difference 
between  the  work  and  the  results  in  the  two  years  indi- 
cates greater  caution  on  the  part  of  the  offenders  and 
the  extension  of  police  action  to  places  less  marked  with 
suspicion. 

The  lower  courts  disposed  of  the  cases  of  persons 
prosecuted  for  keeping  houses  of  ill  fame  in  the  years 
1908,  1909  and  1910,  as  shown  in  the  following  table: 


1908.  1909.  1910. 


Fined  $50 

Fined  $75 

Fined  $100 

Discharged 

Placed  on  file  .... 
Placed  on  probation 
Prison  at  Sherborn 

Pending 

House  of  Correction  one  year 
House  of  Correction  eleven  months 
House  of  Correction  nine  months 
House  of  Correction  eight  months 
House  of  Correction  six  months 
House  of  Correction  four  months 
House  of  Correction  three  months 
House  of  Correction  two  months 
House  of  Correction  one  month 


49  51  23 

1 3 

7 6 2 

16  13  8 

11  8 3 

3 5 2 

2 - 


1 1 
2 

9 5 4 

4 5 2 

3 7 3 

1 

1 


1 

7 3 

1 


4 

1 


114  108  56 


Carried  forward 


42 


Brought  forward  . . . .114  108  56 

House  of  Correction  nine  months 

and  $100  fine - 1 - 

House  of  Correction  three  months 

and  $100  fine 1 

House  of  Correction  three  months 

and  $50  fine - - 1 

House  of  Correction  two  months 

and  $75  fine - 1 

Common  jail - 1 1 

Defaulted - 1 

Held  for  grand  jury  . . - - 1 


Totals 


114  112  60 


The  maximum  penalty  under  the  nuisance  act  is  $100 
fine  or  twelve  months’  imprisonment,  or  both.  The  max- 
imum fine  was  imposed  in  1908  in  7 cases,  in  1909  in 
6 cases  and  in  1910  in  2 cases;  the  maximum  impris- 
onment in  1908  in  7 cases,  in  1909  in  3 cases  and  in 
1910  in  1 case.  In  no  case  in  any  of  those  years  did  a 
court  impose  the  maximum  combined  penalty  of  $100 
fine  and  twelve  months’  imprisonment. 

The  searches  in  suspected  houses  of  ill  fame  disclosed 
evidence  on  which  were  based  23  prosecutions  for  violat- 
ing the  liquor  law,  with  the  following  results: 


Fined  14 

House  of  Correction  six  months  ....  1 

House  of  Correction  three  months  ...  1 

Discharged 4 

Placed  on  file 3 

Total  23 


Inmates  and  Patrons. 

The  searches  of  houses  of  ill  fame  resulted  further  in 
the  arrest  on  the  premises  of  84  men  and  103  women, 
other  than  the  keepers  of  the  places,  who  were  either 
actually  engaged  in  the  commission  of  crime  or  were 
open  to  prosecution  as  idle  and  disorderly  persons.  The 
manner  in  which  these  cases  were  disposed  of  in  the 


43 


lower  courts,  all  the  men  being  released  on  payment  of 
fines,  excepting  three,  who  were  placed  on  probation  or 
had  their  cases  filed,  is  shown  in  the  table  which  follows, 
in  comparison  with  the  disposition  of  similar  cases  in 
the  years  1908  and  1909: 


1908. 

1909. 

1910. 

Fined  $40 

- 

- 

1 

Fined  $30 

- 

- 

1 

Fined  $25 

- 

- 

4 

Fined  $20 

135 

216 

130 

Fined  $15 

3 

12 

6 

Fined  $10 

- 

2 

1 

Fined  one  cent 

2 

- 

- 

Placed  on  probation  .... 

27 

24 

19 

Placed  on  file 

9 

15 

4 

Discharged 

8 

6 

5 

Defaulted 

2 

3 

1 

House  of  Correction  one  year  . 

1 

- 

- 

House  of  Correction  six  months 

1 

1 

1 

House  of  Correction  four  months  . 

9 

3 

2 

House  of  Correction  three  months  . 

4 

8 

7 

House  of  Correction  two  months  . 

1 

1 

- 

House  of  Correction  one  month 

1 

7 

- 

Prison  at  Sherborn  .... 

3 

2 

- 

Jail  four  months  .... 

- 

- 

1 

Jail  three  months  .... 

1 

- 

- 

Jail  fifteen  days  .... 

1 

- 

- 

Lancaster  School  .... 

- 

1 

- 

Held  for  grand  jury  .... 

- 

1 

3 

Pending 

- 

- 

1 

Totals 

208 

302 

187 

Night  Walkers. 

The  work  of  the  police  for  the  suppression  of  open 
immorality  in  the  streets  took  the  form  of  prosecution  of 
common  night  walkers  and  of  women  and  girls  not 
properly  to  be  classed  as  common  night  walkers  but 
nevertheless  guilty  of  immoral  acts  and  conduct.  As 
night  walkers  offend  in  public  the  police  were  able  to 
make  substantially  as  many  prosecutions  as  in  1909,  the 


figures  for  the  last  four  years  being,  169  in  1907,  249  in 
1908,  375  in  1909  and  366  in  1910.  Cases  were  disposed 
of  in  1910,  in  comparison  with  1908  and  1909,  as  follows: 


Probation 

1908. 

99 

1909. 

172 

1910. 

190 

On  file 

9 

8 

10 

Defaulted 

6 

12 

8 

Fined 

1 

1 

4 

House  of  Correction  one  year  . 

2 

- 

- 

House  of  Correction  six  months 

7 

12 

12 

House  of  Correction  four  months  . 

42 

52 

42 

House  of  Correction  three  months  . 

36 

44 

27 

House  of  Correction  two  months  . 

10 

11 

7 

House  of  Correction  one  month 

2 

1 

1 

Prison  at  Sherborn  .... 

30 

45 

44 

State  Farm 

4 

10 

14 

Lancaster  School  .... 

1 

- 

— 

Jail  four  months  .... 

- 

2 

4 

Jail  three  months  .... 

- 

1 

- 

Discharged 

- 

2 

3 

Pending 

- 

2 

- 

Totals 

249 

375 

366 

The  great  proportion  of  night  walkers  placed  on  pro- 
bation gives  particular  interest  to  the  results  of  such 
action.  In  no  spirit  of  criticism,  and  without  having 
gone  below  the  surface  of  the  matter,  it  is  worth  while  to 
note  results  in  68  cases  in  which  night  walkers  prosecuted 
by  the  police  in  one  particular  division  were  placed  on 
probation  within  the  year.  Of  the  68,  1 was  sent  to  a 
state  asylum  for  the  insane;  9 are  in  private  reformatory 
institutions  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  their  pro- 
bation; 5 were  surrendered  by  the  probation  officers  and 
sentenced;  23  defaulted,  that  is  to  say,  broke  the  condi- 
tions of  their  probation  and  presumably  disappeared; 
16  were  dismissed  because  of  satisfactory  conduct  during 
the  term  of  their  probation,  which  is  usually  six  months, 
and  14  cases  are  pending. 


45 


Women  and  girls  arrested  in  the  streets  for  immoral 
conduct,  but  not  properly  to  be  classed  as  common 
night  walkers,  numbered  58,  and  their  cases  were 
disposed  of  as  follows: 


Delivered  to  parents 22 

Delivered  to  State  Board  of  Charities  ...  7 

Delivered  to  private  institutions  ....  1 

Discharged  at  station  house 6 

Placed  on  probation 9 

State  Farm 4 

Women’s  Prison  at  Sherborn 1 

Lancaster  School 3 

House  of  Correction  six  months  ....  1 

House  of  Correction  four  months  ....  2 

House  of  Correction  three  months  1 

House  of  Correction  two  months  ....  1 

Total 58 


The  Law  and  the  Police. 

An  attempt  to  close  a house  of  prostitution  by  means 
of  an  injunction  against  the  owner  of  the  real  estate 
was  described  in  last  year's  report.  The  procedure  is 
based  on  Revised  Laws,  chapter  101,  section  8,  but  has 
long  been  known  to  the  police,  through  actual  experi- 
ment, as  of  no  value  for  such  a purpose.  At  the  request, 
however,  of  an  officer  of  a private  organization,  and  as  a 
further  test  of  the  law,  the  Police  Department  aided  in 
securing  an  injunction  against  the  owner  of  the  house. 
No  court  contest  was  made  by  the  respondent  and  the 
injunction  became  operative  September  14,  1909. 

The  theory  of  the  law  and  the  belief  of  interested 
though  inexperienced  persons  is  that,  with  an  injunction 
against  the  further  use  of  the  house  for  purposes  of 
prostitution,  the  owner  of  the  real  estate  would  be  in 
contempt  of  court,  and  subject  to  imprisonment  if  the 
house  were  again  so  used.  But  in  line  with  previous 
experiences  the  title  of  the  real  estate  was  almost 
immediately  transferred  to  another  person,  and  as 
against  the  new  owner  the  injunction  had  no  force. 


46 


Meanwhile,  the  police  had  continued  to  watch  the 
house  and  to  search  it  with  warrants,  woman  No.  1, 
who  was  in  charge  of  the  premises  when  the  injunction 
was  sought,  though  not  the  owner  of  the  real  estate, 
having  turned  the  management  over  to  woman  No.  2. 
When  the  last  annual  report  of  the  Police  Depart- 
ment was  closed,  November  30,  1909,  the  house  was 
apparently  occupied  by  permanent  male  lodgers. 

But  woman  No.  2 gradually  took  up  the  old  practices 
and  in  consequence  of  evidence  secured  by  the  police 
in  February,  1910,  a warrant  for  her  arrest  was  applied 
for.  It  was  refused  by  the  court  on  the  ground  that 
it  appeared  that  she  had  given  up  business  at  that 
place.  What  she  had  really  done  was  to  transfer  the 
management  to  woman  No.  3,  which  is  the  plan  usually 
followed  in  such  cases. 

The  police  were  compelled  to  begin  their  work  over 
again  with  woman  No.  3,  and  it  was  not  until  November, 

1910,  that  they  secured  evidence  enough  to  take  her 
to  court.  She  was  arrested,  and  after  her  case  had 
been  continued  she  pleaded  guilty,  paid  a fine  of  $50 
and  turned  the  house  over  to  woman  No.  4. 

December  3,  1910,  the  police  had  sufficient  evidence 
to  ask  for  a warrant  for  woman  No.  4,  which  was 
granted,  but  she  kept  out  of  the  way,  woman  No.  5 
taking  her  place,  and  was  not  arrested  until  December 
28,  when  the  case  in  court  was  continued  to  January  6, 

1911. 

The  record  of  this  particular  house  in  the  past  two 
years  illustrates  many  aspects  of  the  contest  which  the 
police  are  carrying  on  against  the  business  of  vice;  but 
especially  and  most  discouraging  of  all,  I venture  to  say, 
is  that  attitude  of  the  courts  which  makes  it  easy 
for  keepers  of  houses  of  ill  fame  to  avoid  conviction, 
and  when  convicted,  after  all,  to  escape,  in  many  cases, 
with  petty  fines. 

When  court  results  are  considered  it  is  hardly  an 
exaggeration  to  say  that  in  cases  such  as  the  following 
the  police  are  wasting  their  time  and  the  laws  are 


47 


brought  into  contempt.  A woman  controls  a house  of 
eight  suites.  She  lives  in  one  of  them,  rents  such  of 
the  others  as  she  chooses,  and  two  have  been  used  for 
years  for  immoral  purposes.  They  are  barricaded  like 
old-fashioned  gambling  houses,  and  when  the  police 
appear  and  are  seen  through  a peephole,  they  are 
unable,  as  a rule,  to  gain  entrance  in  time  to  secure 
incriminating  evidence.  From  December  1,  1907,  to 
March  3,  1908,  seven  different  women  were  the  osten- 
sible keepers  of  the  place.  On  the  latter  date  the 
seventh  woman  was  convicted  of  keeping  a house  of  ill 
fame,  and  the  penalty  was  a fine  of  $50.  Under  these 
conditions  a policeman  in  uniform  was  stationed  in 
front  of  the  house  from  August  16,  1908,  to  October  16, 
1909.  The  business  apparently  was  too  profitable  to  be 
given  up  readily,  but  it  was  damaged  to  such  an  extent 
that  on  the  latter  date  the  apartments  were  vacated. 
In  a few  months,  however,  business  was  resumed. 
From  April  10  to  November  20,  1910,  the  place  was 
searched  twenty-one  times  by  the  police,  and  the  only 
success,  if  a fine  of  $50  imposed  by  the  court  can  be 
called  a success,  was  the  conviction  of  the  woman  who 
was  the  ostensible  keeper  in  August,  1910.  It  is 
practically  useless  to  attempt  to  collect  evidence  when 
the  results  are  such  as  these.  On  this  point  I may 
appropriately  repeat  what  I said  in  my  annual  report 
two  years  ago: 

It  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  Commonwealth  should  condone 
such  an  offence  as  this  for  any  sum  of  money  paid,  and  especially 
for  a pittance  that  can  be  charged  to  the  profit  and  loss  account 
without  embarrassment  to  the  business  or  interruption  of  its 
successful  progress. 

The  Business  of  Vice  Modernized. 

In  previous  reports  I have  spoken  of  the  gradual 
disappearance  of  the  old-fashioned  houses  of  ill  fame, — 
single  houses  with  resident  inmates.  The  movement 
has  continued  through  the  past  year,  and  among  those 
which  gave  up  business  it  is  worth  while  to  mention 


48 


three  houses  standing  together  in  a short  street  between 
Bowdoin  square  and  the  State  House,  which  had  been 
carried  on  for  a generation.  The  character  of  their 
“ trade’ ’ may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  when  the 
furniture  of  one  of  them  was  sent  to  an  auction  room  it 
was  estimated  to  have  cost  $18,000.  Police  pressure 
accounts  in  a large  measure  for  these  surrenders,  but 
the  most  important  instrumentality  in  the  change  which 
for  good  or  for  evil  has  taken  place  in  the  business  of 
vice  is  the  telephone,  with  the  modern  system  of  opera- 
tion which  throws  its  use  open  not  only  to  subscribers 
but  to  the  whole  public.  The  “telephone  house,”  as  it 
has  come  to  be  known,  and  in  most  cases  it  is  but  an 
apartment,  is  practically  an  exchange,  in  which  the 
tenant,  without  keeping  women  in  the  place,  fills  orders, 
so  to  speak;  and  even  when  the  police  become  suspicious 
and  arrive  with  a liquor  search  warrant,  which  is  their 
only  legal  and  practicable  means  of  securing  entrance, 
they  usually  find  nothing  incriminating  on  the  premises. 
A person  carrying  on  the  business  in  this  way  receives 
messages  by  telephone  from  men,  and  has  at  her  call 
numbers  of  women  and  girls  who  use  the  telephone  at 
stated  times  to  learn  whether  or  not  they  are  wanted. 

The  telephone  is  essential,  also,  in  a large  number  of 
cases  in  which  women  live  alone,  or  usually  two  together, 
in  the  small  flats  which  have  become  so  numerous.  By 
its  use  men  can  arrange  with  the  women  and  the  women 
can  communicate  one  with  another  from  house  to  house. 
In  one  police  division  which  contains  no  known  houses 
of  ill  fame,  in  the  sense  in  which  the  term  has  heretofore 
been  used,  17  places  were  searched  in  1910,  15  of  which 
were  flats  of  this  character.  In  all  the  17  places  evi- 
dence of  violation  of  the  laws  was  obtained,  resulting  in 
the  arrest  of  2 persons  for  illegal  sales  of  liquor  and  of 
35  persons  for  adultery  or  fornication.  But  not  in  a 
single  case  was  the  evidence  sufficient  to  establish  a 
charge  of  keeping  a house  of  ill  fame. 

Lodging  houses  in  great  numbers,  where  “no  ques- 
tions are  asked,”  and  men  and  women  may  come  and 


49 


go  at  pleasure,  provided  they  make  no  disturbance," 
are  practically  beyond  the  reach  of  the  police  except 
in  cases  in  which  criminal  practices  are  carried  on  to 
such  an  extent  that  it  is  possible,  through  an  unexpected 
search,  to  secure  evidence  of  a character  and  quantity 
to  convince  a court  that  the  house  is  a place  “ resorted 
to  for  prostitution.”  In  one  place  6 persons  were 
arrested  for  fornication  and  convicted.  On  the  strength 
of  that  evidence  the  proprietor  was  arrested  on  a charge 
of  keeping  a house  of  ill  fame,  but  was  discharged  by 
the  court.  In  another  case  26  persons  were  arrested 
for  fornication  and  convicted,  and  the  two  proprietors 
were  fined,  respectively,  $50  and  $100.  Again,  with  10 
arrests  and  convictions  for  fornication,  the  keeper  of 
the  house  was  fined  $75;  and  in  still  another,  with  8 
arrests  and  convictions  for  fornication,  the  keeper  was 
placed  on  probation.  Similar  instances,  though  less 
marked,  have  been  numerous. 

I am  aware  that  some  hotels  of  the  lower  class  are 
large  contributors  to  the  convenience  of  mercenary 
vice.  In  a few  cases  in  which  the  police  were  able  to 
show  that  women  were  allowed  to  loiter  on  the  premises 
for  immoral  purposes,  and  afterwards  committed 
criminal  acts,  the  managers  of  hotels  of  this  kind  have 
been  convicted  of  keeping  places  resorted  to  for  prosti- 
tution, and  their  business  has  been  destroyed.  Even 
the  most  carefully  conducted  hotels  cannot  question 
their  guests  and  determine  their  legal  relations  to  one 
another;  but  there  are  hotels  of  another  kind,  whose 
managers  are  careless,  indifferent  or  actually  aware 
that  their  rooms  are  used  for  immoral  purposes,  and  are 
ready  to  profit  by  such  use.  To  this  latter  class  the 
police  will  continue  to  give  particular  attention. 

Public  and  Police. 

The  Police  Department  regards  the  business  of  vice 
as  a social  tragedy  which  has  gone  on  from  the  beginning 
and  presumably  will  continue  to  go  on  to  the  end;  but 
police  action  against  it  is  confined,  of  necessity,  to  the 


50 


attempted  enforcement  of  the  laws.  The  police  have 
no  other  mission  or  authority,  and  their  efforts  to 
reduce  the  profits  of  the  business,  to  secure  the  adequate 
punishment  of  those  who  engage  in  it,  and  thus  to 
check  its  growth,  have  met  with  practically  no  helpful 
or  appreciative  response  from  any  direction.  If  a 
future  Police  Commissioner  were  intending  to  pursue 
the  same  course  with  respect  to  the  business  of  vice  that 
has  been  followed  for  four  years,  I should  advise  him 
that  he  might  expect  loyal  support  from  the  police  when 
once  he  had  convinced  them  that  he  was  in  earnest; 
little  encouragement  from  courts;  bitter  hostility  from 
persons  whose  profits  were  curtailed;  indifference  from 
the  public;  and  from  a few  enthusiasts  in  the  cause  of 
social  purity,  whose  admirable  purposes  are  not  sus- 
tained by  straight  and  intelligent  thinking,  he  would 
be  sure  to  receive  some  measure  of  abusive  criticism. 
I should  advise  him  that  unless  he  held  his  oath  of 
office  in  high  regard,  and  cared  for  no  reward  other 
than  the  consciousness  that  he  had  done  his  duty 
faithfully  and  with  some  benefit  to  the  community, 
it  would  be  better  for  him  personally  that  he  should 
follow  the  easy  road  of  indifference,  which  is  always 
chosen  by  those  who  are  officially  blind. 


51 


DECEMBER  l,  1910,  TO  NOVEMBER  30,  1911. 

[ From  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Police  Commissioner  for  the 

City  of  Boston  for  the  Police  Year  ended  Nov.  30,  \9\\.] 

For  four  successive  years,  contrary  to  all  precedent 
in  the  department,  I have  given  in  my  annual  reports 
elaborate  statistics  with  liberal  comment  thereon,  con- 
cerning crimes  against  chastity  and  morality.  I find 
that  this  matter  covered  in  the  aggregate  fifty  printed 
pages.  As  I supposed  that  my  report  for  1910  would 
be  my  last,  no  feature  of  the  problem  which  seemed 
worthy  of  public  consideration  was  neglected;  and 
for  that  reason  and  because  there  is  nothing  new  to  be 
said  I return  to  the  former  practice  of  the  department, 
which  is  to  include  the  statistics  of  these  offences  against 
the  laws  with  the  statistics  of  all  other  offences.  For 
the  purpose  of  this  summary  I may  repeat  briefly  what 
I have  before  given  in  detail: 

1.  The  Boston  police  make  no  compromise  with 
the  “ social  evil.77 

2.  That  rejecting  the  method  followed  in  practi- 
cally all  large  cities,  including  the  capital  of  the  United 
States,  they  refuse  to  designate  certain  districts  in 
which  the  laws  against  sexual  vice  may  be  broken  with 
impunity. 

3.  That  their  prosecutions,  carried  on  by  lawful 
and  decent  methods,  are  aimed  against  persons  who 
violate  the  laws  of  chastity  and  morality  because  they 
are  law  breakers  and  the  police  are  sworn  to  enforce 
all  laws  to  the  best  of  their  ability. 

4.  That  the  Boston  police  have  not  exterminated 
sexual  vice,  even  of  the  commercial  kind,  an  accom- 
plishment which  no  police  and  no  people  have  ever  yet 
achieved;  but  their  work  in  that  direction  in  the  past 
five  years  has  been  greater  than  any  that  the  city  ever 
before  knew  and  will  be  continued  by  all  means  at 
their  command  and  in  the  face  of  all  forms  of  public 
hostility  and  indifference. 


52 


SUPPLEMENTARY  RECORDS* 


As  explained  on  the  preceding  page,  the  annual 
reports  of  the  Police  Commissioner  for  the  City  of 
Boston  no  longer  include  in  special  detail  statistics 
and  other  information  concerning  the  enforcement 
of  laws  against  sexual  vice,  such  statistics  having 
been  returned  to  their  place  in  the  tabular  statements 
of  the  reports  where  they  appear  with  the  figures 
of  all  other  classes  of  crime.  But  as  the  special 
analyses  have  been  made  from  year  to  year,  and  as 
the  call  for  this  pamphlet  in  Boston  and  from  many 
cities  and  organizations  throughout  the  country 
has  been  continuous,  I have  considered  it  of  sufficient 
public  importance  to  extend  the  record  by  the 
presentation  of  later  statistics  corresponding  to 
those  already  published.  Some  of  the  explanations 
contained  in  the  reports  as  to  the  precise  meaning  of 
certain  statistics  are  omitted ' in  the  new  matter, 
but  they  still  apply. 

Stephen  O’Meara, 

Commissioner. 


February,  1913. 


53 


DECEMBER  J,  J9J0,  TO  NOVEMBER  30,  1911. 


The  table  which  follows  gives  the  whole  number  of 
arrests  for  offences  against  chastity  and  morality  in  each 
of  the  last  ten  years: 


Year. 

1902 

1903 

1904 

1905 

1906 

1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 

1911 


Arrests  for  Offences 
against  Chastity 
and  Morality. 

704 
709 
876 
807 
895 
843 
. 1,165 
. 1,432 
. 1,301 
. 1,303 


A closer  view,  showing  the  three  great  causes  of  arrest 
on  account  of  sexual  immorality,  is  given  in  the  follow- 
ing comparative  statement: 


Arrests  for 

1902. 

1903. 

1904. 

1905. 

1906. 

1907. 

1908. 

1909. 

1910. 

1911. 

Fornication 

138 

94 

253 

284 

260 

279 

375 

520 

408 

414 

Keeping  house  of  ill  fame . . 

55 

80 

66 

52 

65 

74 

114 

112 

60 

88 

Night  walking 

259 

271 

236 

190 

249 

169 

249 

375 

366 

304 

Totals 

452 

445 

555 

526 

574 

522 

738 

1,007 

834 

806 

Houses  of  III  Fame. 


The  number  of  prosecutions  for  keeping  houses  of 
ill  fame  each  year  for  thirty-one  years  is  shown  in  the 
following  table: 


1881  . 

25 

1885  . 

43 

1882  . 

52 

1886  . 

84 

1883  . 

63 

1887  . 

50 

1884  . 

. 67 

1888  . 

25 

54 


1889  . 

1890  . 

1891  . 

1892  . 

1893  . 

1894  . 

1895  . 

1896  . 

1897  . 

1898  . 

1899  . 

1900  . 


55 

1901  . 

27 

1902  . 

31 

1903  . 

40 

1904  . 

19 

1905  . 

46 

1906  . 

69 

1907  . 

72 

1908  . 

54 

1909  . 

31 

1910  . 

68 

1911  . 

. 100 

55 

55 

80 

66 

52 

65 

74 

114 

112 

60 

88 


The  evidence  on  which  to  base  these  88  prosecutions 
was  obtained  through  police  efforts  of  many  kinds, 
including  286  searches  with  warrants  in  133  different 
places. 

The  lower  courts  disposed  of  the  cases  of  persons 
prosecuted  for  keeping  houses  of  ill  fame  in  the  years 
1908,  1909,  1910  and  1911,  as  shown  in  the  following 
table : 

1908.  1909.  1910.  1911. 

7 6 2 4 

1 3 

49  51  23  29 

7 3 1- 

1 

1 1 

2 

9 5 4 6 

4 5 2 6 

3 7 3 5 

-1-1 
1 

1 

- - - 1 

81  83  39 


Fined  $100 

Fined  $75 

Fined  $50 

House  of  Correction  twelve  months 
House  of  Correction  eleven  months 
House  of  Correction  nine  months  . 
House  of  Correction  eight  months  . 
House  of  Correction  six  months 
House  of  Correction  four  months  . 
House  of  Correction  three  months 
House  of  Correction  two  months  . 
House  of  Correction  one  month 
House  of  Correction  nine  months  and 

$100  fine 

House  of  Correction  six  months  and 
$50  fine  

Carried  forward  .... 


52 


55 


Brought  forward  . . . 81 

House  of  Correction  three  months  and 

$100  fine - 

House  of  Correction  three  months  and 

$50  fine 

House  of  Correction  two  months  and 


$75  fine - 

Sherborn  Reformatory  ....  2 

Jail  three  months - 

Placed  on  probation 3 

Placed  on  file 11 

Discharged 16 

Defaulted - 

Held  for  grand  jury 

Pending 1 


83 

1 


1 

1 

5 

8 

13 


39 


1 


1 

2 

3 
8 
1 
1 

4 


52 


1 

10 

4 

16 

1 

4 


Totals  . 


114  112  60  88 


The  maximum  penalty  under  the  nuisance  act  is  $100 
fine  or  twelve  months’  imprisonment,  or  both.  The 
maximum  fine  was  imposed  in  1908  in  7 cases,  in  1909 
in  6 cases,  in  1910  in  2 cases  and  in  1911  in  4 cases; 
the  maximum  imprisonment  in  1908  in  7 cases,  in  1909 
in  3 cases,  in  1910  in  1 case  and  in  1911  in  no  case.  In 
no  case  in  any  of  those  years  did  a court  impose  the 
maximum  combined  penalty  of  $100  fine  and  twelve 
months’  imprisonment. 

The  searches  in  suspected  houses  of  ill  fame  disclosed 
evidence  on  which  were  based  22  prosecutions  for  violat- 
ing the  liquor  law,  with  the  following  results  in  the  lower 
courts : 


Fined 10 

Discharged 7 

Placed  on  file 1 

House  of  Correction  nine  months  ...  1 

House  of  Correction  three  months  and  $100 

fine 1 

Placed  on  probation 1 

Defaulted 1 


Total 


22 


56 


Inmates  and  Patrons. 

The  searches  of  houses  of  ill  fame  resulted  further  in 
the  arrest  on  the  premises  of  51  men  and  63  women, 
other  than  the  keepers  of  the  places,  who  were  either 
actually  engaged  in  the  commission  of  crime  or  were 
open  to  prosecution  as  idle  and  disorderly  persons. 
The  disposition  by  the  lower  courts  of  these  cases  in  com- 
parison with  the  three  years  next  preceding  was  as 
follows : 


Fined  $100 

Fined  $40 

Fined  $30 

Fined  $25 

Fined  $20 

Fined  $15 

Fined  $10 

Fined  1 cent 

House  of  Correction  twelve  months 
House  of  Correction  six  months 
House  of  Correction  five  months  . 
House  of  Correction  four  months  . 
House  of  Correction  three  months 
House  of  Correction  two  months 
House  of  Correction  one  month 
Sherborn  Reformatory 
Jail  four  months  .... 

Jail  three  months  .... 

Jail  fifteen  days  .... 

Lancaster  School  .... 

Placed  on  probation  .... 

Placed  on  file 

Discharged 

Defaulted 

Held  for  grand  jury  .... 
Pending 


1908.  1909.  1910.  1911. 

1 

1 

1 

4 1 

135  216  130  64 

3 12  6 4 

2 1 10 

2 

1 - - 1 

1112 
1 

9 3 2 

4 8 7 2 

11-2 
17-1 
3 2-1 

- - 1 

1 

1 

1 

27  24  19  13 

9 15  4 3 

8 6 5 4 

2 3 14 

-13- 
1 


Totals  . 


208  302  187  114 


57 


Night  Walkers. 

The  work  of  the  police  for  the  suppression  of  open 
immorality  in  the  streets  took  the  form  of  prosecution 
of  common  night  walkers,  and  of  women  and  girls  not 
properly  to  be  classed  as  common  night  walkers,  but 
nevertheless  guilty  of  immoral  acts  and  conduct.  The 
cases  of  common  night  walkers  were  disposed  of  as  follows : 


Fined 

1908. 

1 

1909. 

1 

1910. 

4 

1911. 

House  of  Correction  twelve  months 

2 

- 

- 

- 

House  of  Correction  six  months 

7 

12 

12 

15 

House  of  Correction  five  months  . 

- 

- 

- 

2 

House  of  Correction  four  months  . 

. 42 

52 

42 

30 

House  of  Correction  three  months 

. 36 

44 

27 

35 

House  of  Correction  two  months 

. 10 

11 

7 

3 

House  of  Correction  one  month 

2 

1 

1 

1 

Sherborn  Reformatory 

30 

45 

44 

27 

State  Farm  

4 

10 

14 

11 

Lancaster  School  .... 

1 

- 

— 

- 

Jail  six  months 

- 

- 

— 

1 

Jail  four  months  . . 

- 

2 

4 

2 

Jail  three  months  .... 

- 

1 

- 

2 

Jail  two  months  .... 

- 

- 

— 

1 

Placed  on  probation  .... 

99 

172 

190 

160 

Placed  on  file 

9 

8 

10 

5 

Defaulted 

6 

12 

8 

5 

Discharged 

- 

2 

3 

3 

Sent  to  Hospital  for  Insane 

- 

- 

- 

1 

Pending 

. 

2 

- 

- 

Totals 

. 249 

375 

366 

304 

Women  and  girls  arrested  in  the  streets  for  immoral 
conduct,  but  not  properly  to  be  classed  as  common 
night  walkers,  numbered  89,  and  their  cases  were  dis- 
posed of  as  follows: 

Delivered  to  parents 34 

Delivered  to  State  Board  of  Charities  ...  4 

Carried  forward 38 


58 


Brought  forward 38 

Delivered  to  private  institutions  ....  2 

Discharged,  sent  home 13 

Discharged  by  courts 2 

Fined 4 

Placed  on  probation 13 

Placed  on  file 3 

Sent  to  House  of  Correction 5 

Sent  to  Reformatory  at  Sherborn  ....  5 

Sent  to  Common  Jail 1 

Sent  to  State  Farm 1 

Defaulted 1 

Pending 1 

Total 89 


59 


DECEMBER  I,  J9tJ,  TO  NOVEMBER  30,  1912. 


The  table  which  follows  gives  the  whole  number  of 
arrests  for  offences  against  chastity  and  morality  in 
each  of  the  last  ten  years: 

Arrests  for  Offences 
against  Chastity 

Year.  and  Morality. 


1903  . 

1904  . 

1905  . 

1906  . 

1907  . 

1908  . 

1909  . 

1910  . 

1911  . 

1912  . 


709 
. 876 

807 
. 895 

843 
. 1,165 
. 1,432 
. 1,301 
. 1,303 
. 1,897 


A closer  view,  showing  the  three  great  causes  of  arrest 
on  account  of  sexual  immorality,  is  given  in  the  follow- 
ing comparative  statement: 


Arrests  for 

1903. 

1904. 

1905. 

1906. 

1907. 

1908. 

1909. 

1910. 

1911. 

1912. 

Fornication 

94 

253 

284 

260 

279 

375 

520 

408 

414 

781 

Keeping  house  of  ill  fame . . 

80 

66 

52 

65 

74 

114 

112 

60 

88 

101 

Night  walking 

271 

236 

190 

249 

169 

249 

375 

366 

304 

334 

Totals 

445 

555 

526 

574 

522 

738 

1,007 

834 

806 

1,216 

Houses  of  III  Fame. 

The  number  of  prosecutions  for  keeping  houses  of  ill 


fame  each  year 
following  table : 

for  thirty-two  years 

is  shown  in 

1881  . 

. 25 

1885  . 

. 43 

1882  . 

. 52 

1886  . 

. 84 

1883  . 

. 63 

1887  . 

50 

1884  . 

. 67 

1888  . 

25 

60 


1889  . 

1890  . 

1891  . 

1892  . 

1893  . 

1894  . 

1895  . 

1896  . 

1897  . 

1898  . 

1899  . 

1900  . 


55 

1901 

27 

1902 

31 

1903 

40 

1904 

19 

1905 

46 

1906 

69 

1907 

72 

1908 

54 

1909 

31 

1910 

68 

1911 

100 

1912 

55 

55 

80 

66 

52 

65 

74 

114 

112 

60 

88 

101 


The  evidence  on  which  to  base  these  101  prosecutions 
was  obtained  through  police  efforts  of  many  kinds, 
including  261  searches  with  warrants  in  129  different 
places. 

The  lower  courts  disposed  of  the  cases  of  persons 
prosecuted  for  keeping  houses  of  ill  fame  in  the  years 
1908,  1909,  1910,  1911  and  1912,  as  shown  in  the  follow- 
ing table: 


Fined  $100 

Fined  $75 

Fined  $50 

House  of  Correction  twelve 

months  . 

House  of  Correction  eleven 

months 

House  of  Correction  nine  months  . 
House  of  Correction  eight  months, 
House  of  Correction  six  months  . 
House  of  Correction  four  months, 
House  of  Correction  three  months, 
House  of  Correction  two  months  . 
House  of  Correction  one  month  . 
House  of  Correction  nine  months 
and  $100  fine  .... 
House  of  Correction  nine  months 
and  $50  fine 


1908. 

7 

49 


1909. 

6 

1 

51 


1910.  1911.  1912. 


2 

3 

23 

1 


29 


10 

2 

45 


Carried  forward 


81  83  39  51 


65 


61 


Brought  forward 
House  of  Correction  six 
and  $50  fine  . 

House  of  Correction  three 
and  $100  fine 
House  of  Correction  three 
and  $50  fine  . 

House  of  Correction  two 
and  $75  fine  . 

Jail  six  months 
Jail  three  months 
Sherborn  Reformatory  . 
Placed  on  probation 
Placed  on  file  . 
Discharged 

Defaulted  .... 
Held  for  grand  jury 
Pending  .... 

Totals 


81  83  39  51  65 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 - - 1 
1 1 

2 

3 5 2 10  15 

11  8 3 4 5 

16  13  8 16  15 

- - 1 1 - 

- - 1 - - 

1-44 

114  112  60  88  101 


months 

months 

months 

months 


The  maximum  penalty  under  the  nuisance  act  is  $100 
fine  or  twelve  months7  imprisonment,  or  both.  The 
maximum  fine  was  imposed  in  1908  in  7 cases,  in  1909 
in  6 cases,  in  1910  in  2 cases,  in  1911  in  4 cases,  in  1912 
in  10  cases;  the  maximum  imprisonment  in  1908  in  7 
cases,  in  1909  in  3 cases,  in  1910  in  1 case,  in  1911  and 
1912  in  no  case.  In  no  case  in  any  of  those  years  did  a 
court  impose  the  maximum  combined  penalty  of  $100 
fine  and  twelve  months7  imprisonment. 

The  searches  in  suspected  houses  of  ill  fame  disclosed 
evidence  on  which  were  based  24  prosecutions  for  violat- 
ing the  liquor  law,  with  the  following  results: 


Fined  $50 
On  file  . 
Fined  $100 
Probation 
Fined  $75 
Discharged 


12 

5 

1 

4 

1 

1 


Total 


24 


62 


Inmates  and  Patrons. 

The  searches  of  houses  of  ill  fame  resulted  further 
in  the  arrest  on  the  premises  of  202  men  and  249  women, 
other  than  the  keepers  of  the  places,  who  were  either 
actually  engaged  in  the  commission  of  crime  or  were 
open  to  prosecution  as  idle  and  disorderly  persons. 
The  cases  were  disposed  of  in  the  lower  courts,  compari- 
son being  made  with  previous  years,  as  follows: 


Fined  $100 

Fined  $75 

Fined  $50 

Fined  $40 

Fined  $30  

Fined  $25  

Fined  $20 

Fined  $15 

Fined  $10  

Fined  $5 

Fined- 1 cent 

House  of  Correction  twelve 

months 

House  of  Correction  eight  months, 
House  of  Correction  six  months  . 
House  of  Correction  five  months  . 
House  of  Correction  four  months, 
House  of  Correction  three  months, 
House  of  Correction  two  months  . 
House  of  Correction  one  month  . 
Sherborn  Reformatory  . 

Jail  six  months  . 

Jail  four  months  . 

Jail  three  months  . 

Jail  two  months  . 

Jail  fifteen  days  . 

Lancaster  School  .... 
Placed  on  probation 

Placed  on  file 

Discharged 


1908.  1909.  1910.  1911.  1912. 

- - 1 

- 15 

1 

1 

1 

4 1 3 

135  216  130  64  96 

3 12  6 4 1 

2 1 10  223 

- - - - 1 

2 


1 

1 1 1 

9 3 2 

4 8 7 

1 1 

1 7 

3 2- 

1 

1 

1 

1 

27  24  19 

9 15  4 

8 6 5 


1 1 

2 

2 1 

1 

6 

2 12 

2 5 

1 3 

1 1 

1 

1 

1 


13  54 

3 15 

4 4 


Carried  forward 


206  298  182  110  447 


63 


Brought  forward 
Defaulted  . 

Held  for  grand  jury 
Pending 


206  298  182  110  447 
2 3 14  4 

1 3 

1 


Totals 208  302  187  114  451 


Night  Walkers. 

The  work  of  the  police  for  the  suppression  of  open 
immorality  in  the  streets  took  the  form  of  prosecution 
of  common  night  walkers,  and  of  women  and  girls  not 
properly  to  be  classed  as  common  night  walkers,  but 
nevertheless  guilty  of  immoral  acts  and  conduct.  Cases 
of  common  night  walkers  were  disposed  of  in  the  lower 
courts  in  1912,  in  comparison  with  1908,  1909,  1910  and 
1911,  as  follows: 


Fined 

1908. 

1 

1909. 

1 

1910. 

4 

1911. 

1912. 

House  of  Correction  twelve 
months 

2 

House  of  Correction  six  months 

7 

12 

12 

15 

14 

House  of  Correction  five  months  . 

- 

- 

- 

2 

- 

House  of  Correction  four  months, 

42 

52 

42 

30 

23 

House  of  Correction  three  months, 

36 

44 

27 

35 

21 

House  of  Correction  two  months  . 

10 

11 

7 

3 

3 

House  of  Correction  one  month  . 

2 

1 

1 

1 

4 

Jail  six  months  .... 

- 

- 

- 

1 

1 

Jail  four  months  .... 

- 

2 

4 

2 

2 

Jail  three  months  .... 

- 

1 

- 

2 

1 

Jail  two  months  .... 

- 

- 

- 

1 

- 

Sherborn  Reformatory 

30 

45 

44 

27 

19 

Lancaster  School 

1 

- 

- 

- 

- 

State  Farm 

4 

10 

14 

11 

12 

Hospital  for  Insane 

- 

- 

- 

1 

- 

Placed  on  probation 

99 

172 

190 

160 

202 

Placed  on  file 

9 

8 

10 

5 

16 

Defaulted 

6 

12 

8 

5 

5 

Discharged 

• - 

2 

3 

3 

10 

Nol  prossed 

- 

- 

- 

- 

1 

Pending 

- 

2 

- 

- 

- 

249  375  366  304  334 


Totals 


64 


Women  and  girls  arrested  in  the  streets  for  immoral 
conduct,  but  not  properly  to  be  classed  as  common  night 
walkers,  numbered  157,  and  their  cases  were  disposed 


of  as  follows: 

Fined 1 

House  of  Correction 2 

Sherborn  Reformatory 8 

Lancaster  School 3 

State  Farm 3 

Placed  on  probation 37 

Placed  on  file 4 

Delivered  to  parents 79 

Delivered  to  State  Board  of  Charities  ...  2 

Released  at  Station  House 15 

Discharged 2 

Pending 1 

Total 157 


65 


TOTALS  AND  COMPARISONS. 

The  enforcement  of  the  laws  against  sexual  vice  have 
proceeded  for  so  long  a time  on  the  present  basis  that  it 
is  worth  while  to  present  totals  under  the  separate 
headings  and  to  show  comparisons  between  the  five-year 
period  ended  November  30,  1912,  and  the  five-year  period 
immediately  preceding,  ended  November  30,  1907. 

Arrests  under  the  general  classification  of  offences 
against  chastity  and  morality: 

Five  years  ended  November  30,  1907,  4,130;  five  years 
ended  November  30,  1912,  7,098. 

Arrests  for  three  principal  causes,  viz.,  fornication, 
keeping  house  of  ill  fame  and  common  night  walking: 

Five  years  ended  November  30,  1907,  2,622;  five  years 
ended  November  30,  1912,  4.601. 

Taking  these  three  elements  separately  the  com- 
parisons are  as  follows: 

Fornication. — Five  years  ended  November  30,  1907,  1,170; 
five  years  ended  November  30,  1912,  2,498. 

Keeping  House  of  III  Fame. — Five  years  ended  November 
30,  1907,  337;  five  years  ended  November  30,  1912,  475. 

Common  Night  Walkers.—  Five  years  ended  November  30, 
1907,  1,115;  five  years  ended  November  30,  1912,  1,628. 

It  should  be  understood : 

1.  The  particular  significance  of  the  arrests  for 
fornication,  which  in  some  states  is  not  even  a crime, 
is  in  the  fact  that  almost  all  such  arrests  are  made  in 
connection  with  searches  of  suspected  houses  of  ill  fame. 
Moreover,  it  is  upon  the  conviction  of  persons  so 
arrested,  men  and  women,  that  subsequent  arrests  of 
keepers  of  houses  of  ill  fame  are  mainly  based. 

2.  Though  the  term  “ house  of  ill  fame7’  is  used  for 
convenience,  the  language  of  the  statute  is  a “ place 
resorted  to  for  prostitution,”  and  such  place  in  Boston 
is  almost  always  an  apartment,  a hotel,  a lodging  house 


66 


or  even  a shop.  It  is  not  to  be  assumed  therefore  that 
the  number  of  persons  arrested  in  a year  for  keeping  a 
house  of  ill  fame  indicates  in  any  considerable  degree 
the  existence  of  a corresponding  number  of  separate 
houses  devoted  to  prostitution,  with  regular  inmates. 
Such  separate  houses,  so  inhabited,  have  been  forced 
out  of  existence  by  unremitting  police  prosecutions  to 
such  an  extent  in  the  past  five  years  that  few  are  now 
in  operation,  and  they  are  dropping  out  one  by  one. 
The  last  to  go  are  naturally  those  whose  managers 
own  the  real  estate  which  they  occupy  and  are  otherwise 
wealthy;  but  even  such  persons  surrender  when  they 
find  that  the  business  has  been  made  unprofitable  and 
that  police  conditions  offer  no  prospect  of  a return 
of  easy  times.  There  are  failures  to  convict  even  when 
the  police  feel  that  they  have  a strong  case,  but  after 
each  failure  they  again  begin  to  accumulate  evidence 
that  will  meet  the  requirements  of  the  courts.  Some 
of  the  discharges,  moreover,  represent  cases  in  which 
two  persons,  husband  and  wife  for  example,  are  arrested 
at  the  same  place  and  a court  hearing  is  necessary  to 
determine  whether  or  not  both  are  guilty. 

3.  To  charge  a woman  with  being  a common  night 
walker  is  a serious  matter,  and  under  Massachusetts 
law  the  charge  is  difficult  of  proof.  For  these  reasons 
and  as  a rule  policemen  only  who  have  been  especially 
instructed  and  detailed  and  are  familiar  with  the  strict 
requirements  of  the  courts  undertake  to  prosecute 
common  night  walkers.  There  is  no  such  practice  in 
Boston  as  the  spasmodic  “ rounding  up”  of  fifty  or  a 
hundred  women,  to  be  thrust  into  court  with  insufficient 
evidence  and  therefore  in  three  cases  out  of  four  to  be 
discharged.  Every  case  is  prepared  with  the  greatest 
care  and  in  the  belief  that  the  woman  aimed  at  is 
legally  and  actually  a common  night  walker.  As  a 
consequence,  of  the  1,628  women  arrested  as  common 
night  walkers  by  the  Boston  police  in  the  five  years 
ended  November  30,  1912,  only  eighteen  were  discharged 
by  the  courts,  a record  of  almost  99  per  cent  of  convictions. 


67 


Houses  of  III  Fame. 

The  disposition  by  the  lower  courts  of  the  475  persons 
charged  with  keeping  houses  of  ill  fame  in  the  five 
years  ended  November  30,  1912,  is  shown  in  the  follow- 
ing table: 

Fined  $100 29 

Fined  $75 6 

Fined  $50 197 

House  of  Correction  twelve  months  11 

House  of  Correction  eleven  months  ...  1 

House  of  Correction  nine  months  ...  3 

House  of  Correction  eight  months  ...  2 

House  of  Correction  six  months  ...  27 

House  of  Correction  four  months  ...  19 

House  of  Correction  three  months  . 19 

House  of  Correction  two  months  ....  2 

House  of  Correction  one  month  ....  1 

House  of  Correction  nine  months  and  $100 

fine 1 

House  of  Correction  nine  months  and  $50  fine  . 1 

House  of  Correction  six  months  and  $50  fine  . 1 

House  of  Correction  three  months  and  $100  fine,  1 

House  of  Correction  three  months  and  $50  fine  . 1 

House  of  Correction  two  months  and  $75  fine  . 1 

Sherborn  Reformatory 2 

Jail 4 

Placed  on  probation 35 

Placed  on  file 31 

Discharged 68 

Pending,  defaulted  or  held  for  grand  jury  . . 12 

Total 475 

A further  summary  of  these  cases  is  as  follows : 

Number  fined  only 232 

Number  imprisoned  only 91 

Number  fined  and  imprisoned  ....  6 

Discharged 68 

Convicted  without  penalty 66 

Pending,  defaulted  or  held  for  grand  jury  . . 12 


68 


The  maximum  penalty  under  the  nuisance  act  is  a 
fine  of  $100,  a year  of  imprisonment,  or  both. 

The  maximum  fine  was  imposed  upon  29  persons, 
the  maximum  imprisonment  upon  11  and  the  maximum 
fine  and  imprisonment  combined  upon  none. 

The  searches  in  places  suspected  of  being  resorted  to 
for  prostitution  resulted  in  the  five  years  ended  Novem- 
ber 30,  1912,  in  132  prosecutions  for  the  illegal  sale  or 
keeping  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  those  places.  The 
cases  were  disposed  of  as  follows:  fined,  81;  impris- 
oned, 7;  fined  and  imprisoned,  1;  discharged,  22;  placed 
on  file,  13;  placed  on  probation,  6;  defaulted,  1;  pend- 
ing, 1. 

Including  these  cases  the  whole  number  of  prosecu- 
tions for  the  illegal  sale  or  keeping  of  intoxicating  liquor 
in  the  five  years  ended  November  30,  1912,  was  891. 
In  the  preceding  five  years  no  separate  record  was  kept 
of  prosecutions  originating  in  searches  of  places  sus- 
pected of  being  houses  of  ill  fame. 

Inmates  and  Patrons. 

The  searches  of  houses  of  ill  fame  in  the  five  years 
ended  November  30,  1912,  resulted  further  in  the  arrest 
on  the  premises  of  550  men  and  708  women,  other  than 
the  keepers  of  the  places,  who  were  either  actually 
engaged  in  the  commission  of  crime  or  were  open  to  pros- 
ecution as  idle  and  disorderly  persons.  The  manner  in 
which  these  cases  were  disposed  of  in  the  lower  courts 
was  as  follows: 

Fined  $100 
Fined  $75 
Fined  $50 
Fined  $40 
Fined  $30 
Fined  $25 
Fined  $20 


1 

15 

1 

1 

1 

8 

641 


Carried  forward 


668 


69 


Brought  forward 668 

Fined  $15 26 

Fined  $10 236 

Fined  $5 1 

Fined  1 cent 2 

House  of  Correction  twelve  months  ...  3 

House  of  Correction  eight  months  . 2 

House  of  Correction  six  months  ....  6 

House  of  Correction  five  months  ...  1 

House  of  Correction  four  months  20 

House  of  Correction  three  months  ...  33 

House  of  Correction  two  months  ...  9 

House  of  Correction  one  month  . 12 

Sherborn  Reformatory 7 

Jail  six  months 1 

• Jail  four  months 1 

Jail  three  months 2 

Jail  two  months 1 

Jail  fifteen  days 1 

Lancaster  School 1 

Placed  on  probation 137 

Placed  on  file 46 

Discharged 27 

Defaulted 14 

Held  for  grand  jury 4 

Pending  . 1 


Total 1,262 


I have  already  commented  upon  the  fact  that  of 
1,628  persons  arrested  as  common  night  walkers  in  the 
five  years  ended  November  30,  1912,  but  18  were  dis- 
charged by  the  lower  courts  as  not  guilty.  Further 
evidence  of  the  care  with  which  the  police  do  their 
work  is  found  in  the  fact  that  of  1,262  men  and  women 
arrested  in  searches  of  suspected  houses  of  ill  fame, 
other  than  the  keepers,  but  27  were  discharged  by  the 
lower  courts.  So  that  in  a total  of  2,890  arrests  under 
these  two  heads  there  were  but  45  discharges,  or  1.56 
per  cent. 


70 


Common  Night  Walkers. 


The  cases  of  persons  arrested  as  common  night 
walkers  in  the  five  years  ended  November  30,  1912, 
were  disposed  of  in  the  lower  courts  as  follows : 


Placed  on  probation 

Placed  on  file 

Defaulted 

Fined 

House  of  Correction  twelve  months 
House  of  Correction  six  months  . 
House  of  Correction  five  months 
House  of  Correction  four  months 
House  of  Correction  three  months 
House  of  Correction  two  months 
House  of  Correction  one  month  . 
Sherborn  Reformatory  . 

State  Farm 

Lancaster  School  .... 
Jail  six  months  .... 
Jail  four  months  .... 
Jail  three  months  .... 
Jail  two  months  .... 

Discharged 

Insane  Hospital  .... 

Nol  prossed 

Pending 


823 

48 

36 

6 

2 

60 

2 

189 

163 

34 

9 

165 

51 

1 

2 

10 

4 

1 

18 

1 

1 

2 


Total 1,628 

Immoral  Conduct  in  the  Streets. 

Women  and  girls  arrested  in  the  streets  for  immoral 
conduct,  but  not  properly  to  be  classed  as  common 
night  walkers,  in  the  five  years  ended  November  30, 
1912,  numbered  469,  and  they  were  disposed  of  as 
follows : 

Delivered  to  parents 191 

Delivered  to  State  Board  of  Charities  . 16 

Delivered  to  private  institutions  ....  6 


Carried  forward 


213 


71 


Brought  forward 213 

Placed  on  probation 90 

Placed  on  file 9 

Discharged  by  courts 7 

Discharged  at  station  houses,  sent  home  . . 37 

Sherborn  Reformatory 28 

State  Farm 10 

Lancaster  School 9 

Jail 3 

House  of  Correction  one  to  six  months  . 32 

Fined 19 

Defaulted 3 

Held  for  grand  jury 2 

Pending 7 


Total 


469 


72 


SPECIAL  INFORMATION. 


Several  subjects  more  or  less  closely  connected 
with  the  enforcement  of  laws  relating  to  sexual 
vice  are  considered  in  the  pages  which  follow.  As 
nine-tenths  of  the  public  discussion  which  these 
matters  evoke,  and  I might  well  say  nineteen- 
twentieths,  is  carried  on  by  persons  who  have  no 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  laws,  the  rules  and  the 
practice  affecting  them,  my  purpose  is  almost 
wholly  to  furnish  information. 


73 


“ DANCE  HALLS/' 

When  a resident  of  any  large  city  other  than  Boston 
reads  of  a “ dance  hall/7  he  figures  to  himself  a place 
in  which  women,  employed  for  the  purpose,  entertain 
men  who  come  in  from  the  street,  a liquor  bar  and 
convenient  private  rooms  being  at  their  service,  and 
the  division  of  the  entertainment  being  five  minutes 
of  dancing  to  half  an  hour  of  drinking.  Or  in  another 
city  it  may  mean  this  or  perhaps  a saloon  with  dancing 
in  a rear  or  a side  room  or  in  a hall  above,  the  dancing 
place  and  the  dancing  carried  on  therein  being  in  any 
case  in  close  relations  with  a bar  and  the  sale  of  liquor. 

Contrary  to  the  belief  of  many,  even  of  our  own 
people,  no  such  “ dance  hall/’  or  any  place  remotely 
resembling  it,  and  no  saloon  with  an  accompaniment 
of  dancing,  has  existed  in  Boston  at  any  time  in  the 
past  thirty  years.  When  Boston  had  but  a third  of  its 
present  population,  and  when  the  sale  of  liquor  was  wholly 
unregulated,  dozens  of  such  “ dance  halls”  were  in  con- 
tinuous and  undisguised  operation. 

At  the  present  time  no  dancing  or  other  entertain- 
ment can  be  given  in  a place  in  Boston  which  the  stat- 
utes declare  to  be  a public  hall  without  a license  from 
the  Mayor.  This  license  may  be  for  a year,  covering 
all  entertainments  within  that  period,  or  it  may  be  for 
a single  entertainment.  In  either  case,  and  no  matter 
where  or  what  the  hall  may  be,  the  manner  in  which 
the  license  is  issued  and  the  conditions  prescribed  on 
its  face  are  the  same.  It  is  therefore  true  that  Sym- 
phony Hall  or  Copley  Hall  equally  with  the  poorest 
public  hall  in  the  most  obscure  part  of  the  city  may  be 
called  a “ dance  hall.” 

The  proprietor  or  the  manager  of  a hall  applies  to 
the  Mayor  on  a printed  form  for  a license.  The  applica- 
tion is  referred  to  the  Police  Commissioner  and  by  him 
to  the  captain  of  the  division  in  which  the  hall  is  situated. 


74 


The  captain  indorses  upon  it  his  approval  or  disapproval, 
in  the  latter  case  with  his  reasons,  and  returns  it  to  the 
commissioner  who  forwards  it  to  the  Mayor,  approved 
or  disapproved  in  accordance  with  the  captain’s  report. 
In  either  case  the  Mayor  has  full  power,  the  action  of 
the  police  being  merely  advisory;  but  in  no  instance 
within  my  knowledge  has  a mayor  of  Boston  granted  a 
license  contrary  to  the  sustained  objection  of  the  police. 

In  the  great  majority  of  cases,  the  halls  being  entirely 
respectable,  the  approval  of  the  police  is  given  without 
reserve.  But  when  a hall  has  a record  of  disorder  or 
indecency  or  the  character  of  the  entertainments  pro- 
posed to  be  given  is  likely  to  produce  such  conditions 
the  captain  so  reports.  Sometimes  the  objection  is  met 
by  a change  of  managers  or  of  hall  arrangements  or  by 
an  agreement  that  regular  policemen  shall  be  present 
at  all  entertainments;  and  sometimes  even  when  a 
license  for  a year  is  refused,  licenses  for  single  enter- 
tainments by  particular  organizations  may  be  issued 
from  time  to  time.  Halls  of  this  character  are  watched 
constantly  by  the  police,  and  at  times  on  their  recom- 
mendation an  annual  license  actually  in  force  is  revoked 
by  the  Mayor,  or  an  application  for  a single  enter- 
tainment in  a hall  without  an  annual  license  is  dis- 
approved. 

The  license  in  its  general  application  does  not  require 
that  policemen  shall  be  present  at  all  entertainments, 
but  it  does  require  that  when  detailed  by  the  Police 
Commissioner  they  shall  have  the  right  to  be  present, 
and  it  requires  further  that  an  owner  or  manager  “ shall 
employ,  to  preserve  order  in  his  place  of  amusement, 
only  regular  or  special  police  officers  designated  therefor 
by  the  Police  Commissioner,  and  shall  pay  to  the  Police 
Commissioner  for  the  services  of  the  regular  police 
officers  such  amount  as  shall  be  fixed  by  said  commis- 
sioner.” 

Ill-informed  critics  have  sometimes  exploited  the 
notion  that  because  a regular  police  officer  is  paid  by  the 
manager  of  a hall  he  is  therefore  under  personal  obliga- 


75 


tion  to  the  manager  and  subservient  to  his  interests. 
Nothing  could  be  more  absurd.  One  might  as  well  say 
that  the  clerk  of  a court  or  the  conductor  of  a street 
car  is  under  personal  obligation  to  a person  who  pays 
a fee  or  a fare. 

The  rule  of  the  Police  Department  as  to  “paying 
details”  makes  personal  obligation  on  the  part  of  a 
policeman  impossible.  All  such  details  are  performed 
on  the  officer’s  own  time  and  all  the  money  earned  is  his. 
The  rule  directs  that  “paying  details”  shall  be  distribu- 
ted among  the  men  of  a division  as  evenly  as  possible, 
and  the  commanding  officer  is  required  to  keep  a com- 
plete record  and  to  forward  a monthly  report  on  the 
subject  to  headquarters.  No  manager  of  a hall  can 
make  requisition  for  a particular  policeman;  in  fact  he 
is  usually  ignorant  of  the  identity  of  the  policeman 
detailed  for  a particular  entertainment  until  he  reports 
for  service.  The  parts  of  the  standing  rule  of  the  depart- 
ment which  bear  particularly  upon  this  subject  are  as 
follows : 

Division  commanders  will  require  special  vigilance 
on  the  part  of  officers  detailed  to  dancing  parties  in 
which  disorder  or  indecency  in  any  form  is  likely  to 
appear.  . . . Officers  so  detailed  will  bear  in  mind 

. . . that  they  are  under  no  obligation  whatever  to 

the  owner  or  manager  of  a hall  except  to  assist  him  in 
the  preservation  of  order  and  the  observance  of  the  con- 
ditions of  his  license.  When  a breach  of  law  calling 
for  prosecution  is  committed,  officers  will  prosecute  as 
in  any  other  like  case.  When  a condition  of  a license  or 
special  direction  from  the  licensing  authority  to  licensees 
is  violated,  an  officer  at  a hall  will  direct  the  attention 
of  the  responsible  owner  or  manager  to  the  matter  and 
if  necessary  will  assist  him  in  stopping  such  violation. 
In  all  cases  in  which  an  officer  observes  general  disorder 
or  indecency  even  though  no  one  specific  act  should  be 
such  as  to  call  for  prosecution  or  notice  to  the  manager, 
he  will  so  report  in  writing  to  his  division  commander. 
Sergeants  will  include  in  their  rounds  halls  at  which  only 
patrolmen  are  detailed,  will  see  that  they  are  attending 
to  their  duty  and  will  report  in  writing  to  their  division 


76 


commanders  any  improper  acts  or  conditions  in  the  hall 
which  they  may  observe.  Division  commanders  will 
note  such  reports  and  will  forward  to  headquarters  such 
of  them  as  may  seem  to  be  useful  for  transmission  to  the 
licensing  authority.  They  will  also  inform  themselves 
as  to  the  general  character  of  persons  attending  public 
dances  and  will  report  from  time  to  time  any  unfavorable 
opinions  which  they  may  form  as  to  those  frequenting 
particular  places  and  the  effect  of  their  presence  and  of 
the  dancing  parties  themselves  on  the  order  and  good 
morals  of  the  locality. 

The  following  is  a copy,  with  names  omitted,  of  a 
report  from  a police  officer  which  indicates  the  nature 
of  the  difficulties  with  which  the  police  sometimes 
contend : 

I respectfully  report  that  I was  detailed  to 

Hall,  p.  m.,  16th  inst.,  to  a dance  given  by  the — 

Athletic  Association.  During  the  evening  several  young 
girls,  who  in  my  opinion  were  under  the  required  age, 
obtained  admission  to  the  hall  in  some  manner  unknown 
to  me.  I informed  the  manager  of  the  hall  and  pointed 
out  several  of  them  to  him.  After  talking  to  them  he 
returned  to  me  and  said  he  thought  they  were  over 
seventeen  years  of  age.  I then  attempted  to  put  some 
of  them  out  of  the  hall  when  several  young  men,  perhaps 
twenty-three  or  twenty-four  years  of  age,  stepped  up 
and  said  the  girls  were  their  sisters. 

About  11  p.  m.  several  of  the  young  couples  (perhaps 
six  or  eight  couples)  began  to  dance  indecently,  the 
dance  known  as  the  grizzly  bear.  I attempted  to  stop 
them;  they  paid  no  attention  to  me  and  continued. 
I then  stopped  the  orchestra  from  playing;  when  I 
did  this  several  of  the  young  men  came  at  me  and  I 
drew  my  short  club.  Some  person  grasped  my  club 
from  behind;  another  person  struck  me  in  the  face 
from  behind;  I then  reached  for  my  revolver  and  they 
scattered.  I then  ordered  the  janitor  to  turn  the 
lights  off  and  close  the  dance,  which  he  did.  The 
manager  made  no  attempt  to  assist  me  in  any  way. 

A copy  of  this  report  was  sent  to  the  Mayor  and 
as  a consequence  the  license  of  the  hall  was  by  him 
suspended.  A month  later  it  was  restored,  presumably 
on  assurances  of  improved  management. 


77 


Suggestions  are  often  made  as  to  further  supervision 
of  so-called  “ dance  halls,”  but  as  they  involve  the  use 
of  agencies  over  which  the  Police  Commissioner  has 
no  control  I shall  not  discuss  them.  Few  of  the  persons, 
moreover,  with  whom  I have  considered  this  subject 
from  time  to  time  have  seemed  able  to  distinguish 
between  slang,  vulgarity  and  bad  manners  on  the  one 
side,  which  are  the  unfortunate  privilege,  so  to  speak, 
of  all  who  choose  to  indulge  in  them,  and  profane  or 
obscene  acts  or  words,  which  are  forbidden  by  the 
laws.  In  all  occupations  and  amusements  there  are 
many  differing  standards  of  costume,  conduct  and 
language,  and  men  and  women  who  obey  the  laws  are 
under  no  compulsion,  however  desirable  such  a course 
on  their  part  might  be,  to  conform  to  the  rules  by  which 
persons  of  refinement  may  choose  to  limit  themselves. 


78 


IMMORAL  SHOWS. 

There  is  no  probability  that  any  performance  likely 
to  be  given  at  a regular  theater  in  Boston  could  be 
attacked  successfully  on  the  ground  of  immorality  by 
prosecution  under  the  criminal  laws.  It  was  attempted 
by  the  police  in  as  flagrant  a case  as  ever  came  within 
my  knowledge,  but  the  judge  who  had  granted  the 
warrant  for  the  performer  after  a preliminary  state- 
ment of  the  facts  decided,  upon  full  hearing,  that  he 
could  not  hold  that  the  statute  had  been  violated. 
Even  if  a conviction  could  be  secured  in  a lower  court, 
in  such  a case,  the  accused  would  undoubtedly  appeal, 
and  weeks  would  elapse  before  even  the  uncertain 
result  in  the  Superior  Court  could  be  reached. 

It  is  through  the  license  issued  by  the  Mayor  in 
much  the.  same  manner  as  in  the  case  of  public  halls 
that  such  shows  should  be  controlled,  but  even  the 
licensing  authority  is  here  reduced  to  persuasion  and 
negotiation.  Chapter  494,  Acts  of  1908,  provides  in 
section  2 as  follows: 

Section  2.  If  at  any  time  under  a license  granted 
hereunder  there  shall  be  given  a theatrical  exhibition, 
public  show,  public  amusement  or  exhibition,  any  part 
of  which,  in  the  opinion  of  both  the  mayor  and  the 
police  commissioner  of  Boston,  is  obscene  or  immoral  or 
tends  to  injure  the  morals  of  the  community  and  is  not 
eliminated  at  the  request  of  the  mayor,  then  he  may 
suspend  the  license  for  such  particular  representation. 

This  act  was  drawn  by  counsel  for  the  Theatrical 
Managers’  Association,  and  was  passed  on  its  petition 
by  the  Legislature,  the  Police  Commissioner  being 
included  in  its  terms  without  his  knowledge.  It  will  be 
observed  that  under  the  act: 


79 


1.  No  power  can  be  exercised  until  after  the  exhibi- 
tion has  been  given. 

2.  The  Mayor  and  the  Police  Commissioner  must 
unite  in  the  opinion  required  by  the  statute,  presumably 
after  view  of  the  second,  or  a later  performance,  either 
personally  or  through  representatives. 

3.  When  they  have  agreed  as  to  the  unlawful  part 
or  parts,  the  Mayor  must  give  notice;  and  failing 
elimination,  he  may  suspend  the  license  for  “such 
particular  representation,”  whatever  that  may  mean. 

It  is  doubtful  if  the  suppression  of  a whole  play 
would  be  authorized  by  the  language  of  the  act,  and 
yet  the  worst  material  in  such  performances  usually 
consists  of  words,  gestures,  postures,  and  other  mani- 
festations scattered  all  along  the  way.  It  is  true  that 
in  one  instance  an  entire  play  was  ordered  eliminated 
by  the  Mayor  under  penalty  of  a suspension  of  the 
license  of  the  theater,  but  in  that  case  the  manager 
yielded  without  a test  of  the  law. 

I believe  that  the  only  way  to  deal  with  indecencies 
on  the  stage  is  to  hold  managers  responsible  through 
their  licenses.  They  know  what  is  indecent,  even 
according  to  prevailing  loose  ideas,  and  if  they  are 
convinced  that  indecent  words,  acts  or  displays  will  be 
followed  by  a suspension  of  the  theater  license  for  a 
period  of  from  one  to  six  days,  the  cleansing  of  the 
Boston  stage  morally  may  in  time  be  as  thorough  as 
its  physical  cleansing  would  be  if  done  by  the  Fire 
Department.  When  the  men  who  have  a money  interest 
in  the  performance  undertake  the  work  of  shutting  out 
indecencies  with  a heavy  penalty  for  failure  the  finest 
possible  police  force  for  the  purpose  will  be  on  guard. 

The  Mayor  and  the  Police  Commissioner  joined  in 
1910  in  a petition  to  the  Legislature  for  an  act  under 
which  the  Mayor  as  the  licensing  authority  might 
exercise  the  power  just  described.  The  time  for  new 
business  had  passed,  the  theatrical  managers  appeared 
in  opposition,  and  the  Legislature  refused  to  suspend 


80 


the  rule  in  order  that  the  measure  might  be  considered. 
In  1911  the  proposition  was  heard  by  a committee  of 
the  Legislature,  the  Mayor,  the  Police  Commissioner 
and  several  private  citizens  appearing  in  its  favor, 
representatives  of  the  theaters  in  opposition;  and  the 
committee  and  the  Legislature  refused  favorable  action. 
A similar  bill  was  before  the  Legislature  of  1913,  but  the 
committee  to  which  it  was  referred  reported  against  it. 


81 


HOTELS  AND  CAFES. 

In  discussing  hotel  conditions  in  Boston  many  persons 
speak  freely  of  “second  class”  hotels  and  even  of  that 
institution  peculiar  to  New  York,  the  “Raines  law” 
hotel.  There  is  no  official  separation  of  Boston  hotels 
into  classes.  Under  the  law  the  best  and  the  worst  are 
alike  operated  under  an  “Innholder’s  license.”  Some 
innholders  are  licensed  further  to  sell  intoxicating 
liquors,  and  of  these  a certain  number  have  a special 
license  to  sell  up  to  midnight  instead  of  stopping  at 
eleven  o’clock.  The  particular  value  of  an  innholder’s 
liquor  license  as  compared  with  what  is  commonly 
called  a saloon  license  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  gives  to  the 
licensee  the  right  to  sell  on  Sundays  and  certain  holidays 
when  the  saloons  are  closed,  and  if  the  special  twelve 
o’clock  license  has  been  granted,  to  sell  also  from  eleven 
o’clock  to  midnight  on  week  days  — to  persons  only  in 
either  case  who  have  resorted  to  the  hotel  for  food  or 
lodging. 

Licenses  for  hotels,  with  or  without  the  liquor  privi- 
lege, and  all  other  licenses  for  the  sale  of  intoxicating 
liquors  are  granted  by  the  Licensing  Board,  composed  of 
three  commissioners  appointed,  as  the  Police  Commis- 
sioner is,  by  the  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth.  The 
Board  is  wholly  independent  of  the  Police  Department, 
but  is  entitled  to  and  receives  by  law  as  well  as  in  the 
public  interest  the  closest  and  most  extensive  coopera- 
tion of  the  police.  The  law  covering  this  particular 
point  is  section  17,  chapter  291,  Acts  of  1906,  as  follows: 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  police  commissioner  and 
his  subordinates  to  obtain  and  to  furnish  to  the  licensing 
board  such  information  as  may  be  required  by  the  said 
board  from  them  or  from  any  of  them  relative  to  the 
character  or  fitness  of  a licensee  of  said  board  or  of  an 
applicant  for  any  license  which  said  board  is  empowered 
to  issue,  relative  to  the  place  at  which  the  business 


82 


authorized  by  any  license  is  or  is  proposed  to  be  con- 
ducted, and  also  relative  to  the  manner  in  which  any 
business  authorized  by  any  license  is  at  any  time  being 
conducted.  Such  information  may  be  given  in  writing 
or  orally  as  said  licensing  board  may  require. 

The  principal  methods  by  which  this  cooperation  is 
carried  on  may  be  summarized  as  follows: 

1.  Reports  in  writing  by  division  commanders  on 
all  applications  to  the  Licensing  Board  for  licenses  of 
any  kind  or  class  or  for  special  temporary  privileges  to 
licensees,  made  annually  always  and  often  at  irregular 
times,  embodying  full  information  as  to  persons,  places 
and  surroundings.  In  reports  on  applications  for  the 
annual  reissue  of  licenses  it  is  customary  for  command- 
ing officers  to  enter  no  objection  if  conditions  have  not 
changed  since  the  last  previous  action  in  the  case  by 
the  Licensing  Board. 

2.  Reports  in  writing  by  division  commanders  on  all 
complaints  as  to  licensees  received  by  the  Licensing 
Board  and  referred  to  the  police. 

3.  Reports  in  writing  by  division  commanders  con- 
veying results  of  special  inquiries,  particular  or  general, 
as  desired  by  the  Licensing  Board. 

4.  Voluntary  reports  in  writing  by  division  com- 
manders embodying  all  information  of  possible  value  to 
the  Licensing  Board  as  to  violation  by  licensees  of  general 
or  special  laws  or  of  the  conditions  of  their  licenses, 
convictions  in  court,  the  delivery  of  liquors  at  unlicensed 
places,  etc. 

5.  Personal  attendance  upon  the  Licensing  Board, 
as  notified,  of  police  officers  of  all  grades,  for  consulta- 
tion, or  the  presentation  of  complaints  against  licensees. 

The  police  having  submitted  a report  or  a complaint, 
further  action  thereon  rests  wholly  with  the  Licensing 
Board.  It  may  dispose  of  the  matter  in  its  own  way, 
without  further  reference  to  the  police,  which  is  the 
usual  course,  or  it  may  call  upon  the  Police  Com- 
missioner to  make  the  complaint  formal.  In  the  latter 
case  notices  are  prepared  by  counsel  for  the  Police 


83 


Commissioner,  witnesses  are  summoned  and  a hearing 
is  given  by  the  Licensing  Board  at  which  the  prosecution 
is  represented  by  the  Police  Commissioner’s  counsel  or 
by  the  division  commander  with  whom  the  complaint 
originated.  Following  the  hearing  the  Licensing  Board 
makes  its  finding  free  from  all  other  authority. 

In  the  twenty-five  years  immediately  preceding  the 
act  which  became  effective  June  1,  1906,  the  licenses 
now  granted  by  the  Licensing  Board  in  so  far  as  they 
then  might  lawfully  have  been  issued  were  controlled 
by  the  Board  of  Police.  For  this  reason  and  because 
the  police  continue  to  serve  so  extensively  as  the  agents 
of  the  Licensing  Board  the  general  public,  failing  even 
in  six  and  a half  years  to  understand  the  changed  con- 
ditions, has  continued  to  hold  the  police  responsible 
for  all  that  it  sees  of  certain  licensed  hotels  and  cafes 
and  for  much  more  that  is  said  or  printed  with  varying 
degrees  of  exaggeration.  It  is  for  this  reason  largely 
though  not  altogether  that  I have  considered  it  advisable 
to  explain  with  some  detail  the  actual  situation. 

- In  the  licensing  of  particular  places  and  in  the  framing 
of  conditions  under  which  the  licensees  shall  conduct 
their  business  the  police  may  recommend  anything 
but  they  can  decide  nothing.  When  a provision  of 
the  statute  law  is  violated  they  may  prosecute  in  court, 
but  as  the  proceeding  might  be  long  delayed  with  small 
and  uncertain  penalty  if  successful,  they  resort  usually 
to  the  Licensing  Board  which  has  the  power  to  convict 
almost  immediately  and  to  impose  the  far  more  dreaded 
and  appropriate  penalty  of  revocation  or  suspension 
of  the  license. 

It  is  true,  moreover,  that  the  greater  number  of  offences 
against  morals  and  decency  which  it  is  in  the  power  of 
hotels  and  cafes  to  permit,  and  concerning  which  the 
public  is  properly  sensitive,  are  not  covered  by  the  law. 
The  selling  of  intoxicating  liquors  to  women,  for  example, 
is  not  a breach  of  the  law.  In  so  far  as  the  statutes  are 
concerned  any  licensed  hotel,  cafe  or  saloon  might 
lawfully  sell  to  a woman  in  any  circumstances  in  which 


84 


a sale  to  a man  would  be  lawful.  It  is  at  this  point 
that  the  Licensing  Board  intervenes  by  imposing  general 
and  special  conditions  under  which  the  licenses  are 
granted.  A particular  licensee  may  be  forbidden  by 
the  Board  to  serve  women  at  any  time  or  in  any  part 
of  his  premises,  or  to  serve  them  on  certain  days,  or  to 
serve  them  elsewhere  than  in  specified  rooms,  and  so  on 
through  an  extended  list  of  conditions  designed  to  make 
it  possible  that  business  may  be  continued  with  rudi- 
mentary decency,  if  no  more,  in  certain  hotels  and 
restaurants  which  are  of  such  a character  and  so  situated 
that  without  specific  restrictions  their  operation  might 
be  to  the  last  degree  scandalous. 

Whether  or  not  such  places  should  continue  to  be 
licensed  in  order  to  protect  from  financial  disaster  a 
landlord  who  is  perhaps  doing  his  best  in  a hard  situ- 
ation, or  to  maintain  the  supposed  value  of  real  estate 
which  sometimes  is  assessed  into  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars,  or  on  the  theory  that  licensed  places 
draw  to  themselves  and  therefore  away  from  the  quiet 
neighborhoods  the  great  number  of  drinking  men  and 
women  who  gather  into  the  center  of  the  city,  is  a 
matter  for  decision  beyond  the  authority  of  the  Police 
Commissioner.  I believe,  however,  that  to  license  such 
a place  and  then  to  expect  the  police  to  exclude  from  it 
the  drunken  and  the  indecent  whose  money  represents 
at  least  the  difference  between  a profit  and  a loss  in 
operation  is  no  more  reasonable  than  if  one  were  to 
spill  a barrel  of  molasses  in  the  street  in  August  and  then 
direct  the  police  to  keep  the  flies  away.  I believe  that 
in  this  phase  of  life  as  in  many  others  a supply  will 
sometimes  create  or  enlarge  a demand;  and  further,  as 
I long  ago  formally  expressed  myself,  that  there  are 
licensed  hotels  and  cafes  in  Boston  occupying  premises 
for  which  so  high  rentals  are  demanded  that  no  possible 
patronage  that  they  could  secure,  with  decency  at  all 
times  observed,  would  enable  them  to  pay  their  expenses. 

The  use  of  hotels  for  private  immorality  not  usually 
accompanied  by  drunkenness  or  disorder  is  peculiar  to 


85 


no  time  or  place.  The  best  hotels  are  without  means 
of  knowing  whether  persons  of  respectable  appearance 
who  register  as  man  and  wife  actually  have  that  rela- 
tion. If  the  contrary  could  be  ascertained,  such  guests 
would  be  excluded.  Hotels  of  a somewhat  lower  grade 
are  indifferent  as  to  the  facts,  and  the  lowest  of  all, 
varying  though  they  do  in  prices,  look  for  a revenue 
from  such  sources.  An  attempt  to  deal  with  the  second 
or  even  the  third  kind  of  hotel  under  the  law  or  by  any 
means  other  than  through  their  licenses,  is  full  of 
difficulties.  An  innholder  is  required  by  law  to  provide 
entertainment  for  travelers,  and  to  reject  a sober  and 
orderly  person,  no  matter  under  what  suspicion,  is  so 
likely  to  lead  to  a suit  at  law  that  such  rejection  is 
generally  effected  under  the  pretext  that  all  rooms  are 
occupied.  Except  in  the  unusual  circumstances  in 
which  it  is  possible  for  the  police  to  prove  in  court, 
and  the  proof  must  be  thorough,  that  the  hotel  is  a 
place  resorted  to  for  prostitution  with  the  knowledge  of 
its  proprietor,  there  is  no  way  other  than  through  its 
license  in  which  to  reach  a hotel  that  is  mainly  or 
largely  engaged  in  providing  rooms  for  persons  falsely 
registering  as  man  and  wife.  Furthermore,  a hotel 
which  is  without  the  liquor  privilege,  and  there  are  many 
such,  is  not  wholly  prevented  by  the  loss  of  its  innholder’s 
license  from  the  means  of  doing  a profitable  business. 

The  two  titles,  hotels  and  cafes,  are  intended  for 
present  purposes  to  cover  all  public  places,  however 
designated,  which  operate  under  licenses  of  any  class  or 
kind  and  are  likely  to  be  used  with  accompaniments  of 
drink  or  music  or  both  for  the  practice  of  sexual  vice  in 
any  of  its  stages. 


86 


BOSTON  POLICE  CONDITIONS* 

[From  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Police  Commissioner  for  the 

City  of  Boston  for  the  Police  Year  ended  Nov*  30, 1911.] 

Having  completed  a term  of  five  years  as  Police  Com- 
missioner and  entered  upon  a second  term  I may  describe 
with  knowledge  some  conditions  of  police  work  and 
organization  in  Boston  which  are  peculiar,  beneficial 
and  creditable  to  the  city.  The  people  of  Boston  are 
daily  readers  of  news  which  affects  unfavorably  in  turn 
the  police  departments  of  other  American  cities,  large 
and  small;  and  it  therefore  seems  to  me  to  be  well 
worth  while  that  they  should  receive  such  information 
as  shall  save  them,  in  so  far  as  the  facts  justify,  from 
judging  their  own  police  service  by  what  they  read  of 
the  service  which  is  given  to  other  communities. 

First. — The  Boston  Police  Free  from  Politics. 

The  Boston  Police  Department  is  wholly  free  from 
politics  — the  root  of  all  evil  in  the  policing  of  American 
cities  and  towns.  A police  department  without  politics 
may  yet  be  inefficient,  but  a police  department  controlled 
or  even  influenced  by  politics  is  sure  to  be  inefficient 
and  worse,  to  just  such  a degree  as  it  is  affected  by  the 
political  taint.  In  the  five  and  a half  years  for  which 
I can.  answer,  no  appointment,  promotion  or  transfer  of 
a police  officer,  no  expenditure  of  a dollar,  no  grant  or 
refusal  of  a single  one  of  the  tens  of  thousands  of  licenses 
and  permits  which  the  Police  Commissioner  controls 
has  been  influenced  by  any  political  personage  or  politi- 
cal consideration.  The  public  acceptance  of  this  as 
the  actual  condition  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  all  the 
criticism  to  which  a police  department  and  its  com- 
missioner are  sure  to  be  subjected,  not  one  person  and 
not  one  newspaper  has  even  alleged  in  five  and  a half 
years  that  the  department  as  a whole  or  any  members 
of  it  were  concerned  in  any  way  with  politics,  except 


87 


as  voting  citizens.  Technically,  the  commissioner  him- 
self might  have  been  regarded  in  his  first  term  as  a 
political  appointee,  but  even  that  suspicion  is  lost  in  his 
reappointment  by  a Governor  not  of  his  own  party. 

It  may  be  added,  moreover,  as  emphasizing  the 
peculiarity  of  this  situation,  that  by  law  and  for  lawful 
purposes  the  Boston  Police  Department  is  brought  into 
closer  relation  with  voters  and  elections  than  is  any  other 
police  department  in  the  world.  It  is  to  the  police  that 
the  statutes  have  intrusted  the  annual  house-to-house 
canvass  of  men  and  women  whose  names  constitute 
the  basis  of  the  lists  of  voters  prepared  by  the  election 
commissioners.  It  is  to  the  police  that  supplementary 
inquiries  as  to  new  candidates  for  registration  as  voters 
are  assigned.  It  is  to  the  police  that  all  the  ballots  for 
use  in  the  city  on  election  days  are  intrusted  for  prompt 
and  safe  delivery  at  the  206  voting  places.  It  is  a police- 
man who  hands  the  key  of  the  ballot  box  to  the  warden, 
witnesses  and  certifies  the  number  registered,  and  is 
the  custodian  of  the  key  throughout  the  day.  A police- 
man watches  the  proceedings  of  election  officers  from 
- the  opening  of  the  polls  until  the  final  returns  are  handed 
to  him  for  delivery  to  the  election  commissioners.  He 
must  be  informed  as  to  all  the  conditions  under  which 
voting  should  proceed  and  the  ballots  be  handled  and 
counted,  for  it  is  his  duty  to  act  instantly  should  any 
condition  be  violated.  He  has  printed  instructions 
from  his  own  superiors  and  from  the  Board  of  Election 
Commissioners.  He  holds  in  his  hand  a list  of  voters 
in  the  precinct  whose  confinement  in  hospitals  or  penal 
institutions  makes  it  impossible  that  their  names  should 
legally  be  voted  upon.  He  holds  also  a printed  descrip- 
tive list  of  all  voters  in  the  precinct,  and  uses  it  con- 
stantly as  a means  of  checking  attempts  at  fraud.  And 
when  the  polls  are  closed  and  the  count  is  begun  it  is  a 
policeman  who  must  watch  every  movement  of  the 
election  officers,  with  a full  knowledge  of  the  things 
which  they  should  or  should  not  do;  see  to  it  that  a 
dozen  details  are  observed  in  sealing  and  otherwise 


88 


preparing  the  returns,  and  then  take  them  for  personal 
delivery  to  the  election  commissioners. 

I may  add  that  as  Police  Commissioner  I have  found 
it  easy  to  keep  the  department  out  of  politics.  The 
members  of  the  force  want  none  of  it,  and  when  once 
convinced  that  no  political  influence  can  help  or  hurt 
them  they  gladly  base  their  hope  of  promotion  wholly 
upon  the  proper  performance  of  their  duties.  The 
“ politicians,”  so  called,  whatever  their  party,  have 
given  no  trouble.  A department  head  who  is  himself 
independent  of  political  control  creates  his  own  atmos- 
phere and  is  not  importuned  for  improper  favors, 
which  wise  politicians  soon  learn  are  not  to  be  had.  As 
the  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  is  the  only  public 
official,  other  than  the  courts,  to  whom  the  Police  Com- 
missioner of  Boston  is  responsible,  it  is  proper  for  me 
to  say  that  in  five  and  a half  years  of  service  under  three 
Governors,  representing  the  two  leading  political  parties, 
I have  never  received  from  one  of  them  a request  or 
an  intimation  designed  to  influence  my  official  action 
through  favor  towards  them  or  their  friends  on  any 
subject  whatever.  On  the  contrary,  they  have  uni- 
formly assured  me  of  their  desire  that  I should  maintain 
the  independence  of  judgment  and  conduct  which  was 
the  basic  condition  of  my  acceptance  of  office. 

Second.  — The  Boston  Police  and  Assaults  on 

Citizens. 

Violent  and  abusive  treatment  of  citizens  is  a common 
and  probably  much  exaggerated  cause  of  complaint 
against  the  police  throughout  the  country.  Let  us 
see  what  information  can  be  given  as  affecting  Boston. 

In  the  past  five  and  a half  years  about  300,000  arrests 
have  been  made  in  Boston,  not  counting  cases  in  which 
juveniles  or  adults  were  merely  summoned  to  court. 
These  arrests  were  made  by  about  1,500  policemen  on 
duty  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night,  armed  with  clubs 
and  loaded  revolvers.  Of  the  men  arrested  more  than 
half  were  drunk,  and  in  thousands  of  cases  violent  and 


89 


abusive,  and  a large  percentage  of  all  persons  arrested 
were  dangerous  criminals. 

As  a consequence  of  these  arrests  and  .of  the  rela- 
tions of  the  police  with  the  whole  population  two 
policemen  have  been  convicted  of  unjustifiable  assaults 
and  have  been  discharged  from  the  department;  and 
two  others  have  been  discharged  for  offences  believed 
to  have  been  the  outgrowth  of  an  assault  upon  a 
prisoner.  In  none  of  these  cases  was  a club,  revolver 
or  other  weapon  used,  and  in  all  instances  the  acts  of 
the  policemen  resulted  from  outbursts  of  temper  pro- 
voked by  abusive  language.  It  may  be  said  that  this 
remarkable  record  is  due  to  leniency  on  the  part  of  the 
department  towards  such  offenders,  that  a citizen  who 
is  assaulted  by  a policeman  cannot  secure  justice  from 
the  police  authorities.  On  the  contrary,  no  other 
offence  is  pursued  more  rigorously  or  punished  more 
severely.  But  to  this  suggestion  there  is  a perfect 
answer  in  addition  to  the  denial.  A citizen  who  is 
assaulted  by  a policeman  has  a right  to  go  to  the  courts 
for  redress,  either  with  a criminal  complaint  for  assault 
or  with  a civil  suit  for  damages.  But  in  five  and  a 
half  years  no  Boston  policeman  has  been  convicted  in 
any  criminal  court  of  assault  or  any  other  form  of 
violence  committed  upon  a citizen;  and  no  Boston 
policeman  has  paid  a dollar  in  civil  damages  by  order 
of  a court  for  any  act  committed  by  him  within  those 
five  and  a half  years.  There  have  been  a few  instances, 
perhaps  four  or  five,  in  which  policemen  have  paid 
small  sums  out  of  court  in  settlement  of  cases  involving 
technical  assault  or  unlawful  arrest,  but  not  actual 
bodily  injury  to  the  plaintiffs. 

Five  men  while  engaged  in  violations  of  law  and  in 
conflict  with  policemen  have  received  injuries  which 
resulted  in  death,  but  in  all  such  cases  the  courts,  after 
full  investigation,  have  declared  the  policemen  to  be 
blameless. 

What  is  the  other  side  of  the  case?  In  five  and  a 
half  years  two  policemen  have  been  shot  dead  by  crimi- 


90 


nals  and  a dozen  have  been  crippled  for  life  by  shooting 
or  other  violence.  In  the  same  period  305  persons, 
not  counting  those  who  escaped,  have  been  arrested 
for  assaulting  policemen;  and  118  policemen  while 
arresting  criminals  and  65  other  policemen  while  pur- 
suing criminals  have  been  injured  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  cause  them  to  lose  3,696  days  from  duty.  No 
account  is  made  of  the  innumerable  cases  in  which  the 
injuries  did  not  necessitate  absence  from  duty. 

Such  is  the  record  of  five  and  a half  years  as  between 
the  individual  citizen  and  the  individual  policeman, 
with  the  policeman  possessing  the  legal  as  well  as  the 
moral  right,  often  of  necessity  exercised,  to  use  all 
needed  force  in  effecting  an  arrest  and  overcoming 
resistance.  As  to  the  preservation  of  order  in  its 
broader  aspect,  this  may  be  said  to  the  credit  of  the 
people  and  of  the  police:  In  the  fifty-seven  years  of  its 
existence  the  Boston  Police  Department  has  kept  order 
in  the  city  without  once  calling  for  military  aid.  In 
the  draft  riot  of  1863  soldiers  were  employed  under 
orders  of  their  own  officers  to  prevent  resistance  to  laws 
which  were  themselves  of  a military  character;  and  at 
the  time  of  the  great  fire  of  1872  the  militia  were  called 
out  as  a precautionary  guard  for  the  extensive  burnt 
district.  With  these  exceptions,  if  they  can  be  called 
exceptions,  no  soldier  has  done  police  duty  in  Boston 
in  fifty-seven  years,  a record  which  I feel  sure  cannot 
be  matched  by  any  city  of  its  size  in  the  world. 

Third. — The  Boston  Police  and  “ Corruption. ” 

In  five  and  a half  years  one  Boston  policeman  has 
been  convicted  of  bribery.  He  accepted  $2  in  a crowded 
street,  in  open  day  and  in  the  presence  of  three  wit- 
nesses who  were  strangers  to  him,  on  his  promise  that 
he  would  refrain  from  prosecuting  one  of  the  witnesses 
for  a violation  of  the  street  traffic  rules.  The  case  was 
reported  at  once  at  headquarters,  the  policeman  was 
questioned  and  suspended  and  charges  were  preferred 
against  him.  He  offered  his  resignation,  which  was 


91 


refused,  and  on  failure  to  appear  for  trial  he  was  dis- 
charged and  the  case  was  reported  to  the  district  attor- 
ney. Judging  from  his  conduct  at  the  time  and  since 
I am  of  the  opinion  that  the  man,  who  had  served  two 
years,  was  mentally  unbalanced.  In  another  instance 
a policeman  who  was  discovered  by  his  superiors  to  have 
given  information  of  an  intended  search  of  a house  was 
discharged  from  the  department.  The  evidence  against 
him  disclosed  no  bribery,  but  indicated  rather  that  he 
had  acted  through  friendliness.  In  a third  instance  the 
names  of  certain  police  officers  with  figures  against  them 
representing  money  were  found  in  a diary  in  a house 
raided  with  a search  warrant.  The  matter  was  investi- 
gated with  the  greatest  thoroughness  and  no  reason 
could  be  discovered  for  doubting  the  honesty  of  the 
officers  named,  who  had  done  and  are  still  doing  the 
best  possible  work  for  the  suppression  of  vice  in  their 
division.  I do  not  doubt  that  there  are  persons  in 
Boston  who  pay  money  to  third  parties  on  the  supposi- 
tion that  it  goes  to  the  police,  but  that  it  does  go  to 
them  or  to  any  of  them  has  not  been  shown  by  a particle 
of  credible  testimony.  A cordial  welcome  at  police 
headquarters  has  always  awaited  any  person  who  could 
give  such  testimony,  and  the  whole  force  knows  that 
any  member  convicted  of  corrupt  practices  will  be  not 
only  discharged  but  presented  for  criminal  prosecution. 
Such  is  the  discovered  extent  of  “ corruption”  in  the 
Boston  Police  Department  in  five  and  a half  years;  and 
though  no  man  can  say  that  no  policeman  is  corrupt, 
it  is  fair  to  assume  that  the  fire  underlying  so  small  a 
quantity  of  smoke  must  itself  be  small. 

Fourth.  — The  Boston  Police  and  the  “ Social 

E\il.” 

For  four  successive  years,  contrary  to  all  precedent  in 
the  department,  I have  given  in  my  annual  reports 
elaborate  statistics,  with  liberal  comment  thereon, 
concerning  crimes  against  chastity  and  morality.  I 
find  that  this  matter  covered  in  the  aggregate  fifty 


92 


printed  pages.  As  I supposed  that  my  report  for  1910 
would  be  my  last,  no  feature  of  the  problem  that  seemed 
worthy  of  public  consideration  was  neglected;  and  for 
that  reason  and  because  there  is  nothing  ne,w  to  be  said 
I return  to  the  former  practice  of  the  department, 
which  is  to  include  the  statistics  of  these  offences 
against  the  laws  with  the  statistics  of  all  other  offences. 
For  the  purpose  of  this  summary  I may  repeat  briefly 
what  I have  before  given  in  detail,  that: 

1.  The  Boston  police  make  no  compromise  with  the 
“ social  evil.” 

2.  That  rejecting  the  method  followed  in  practically 
all  large  cities,  including  the  capitol  of  the  United 
States,  they  refuse  to  designate  certain  districts  in  which 
the  laws  against  sexual  vice  may  be  broken  with 
impunity. 

3.  That  their  prosecutions,  carried  on  by  lawful  and 
decent  methods,  are  aimed  against  persons  who  violate 
the  laws  of  chastity  and  morality  because  they  are  law 
breakers  and  the  police  are  sworn  to  enforce  all  laws  to 
the  best  of  their  ability. 

4.  That  the  Boston  police  have  not  exterminated 
sexual  vice,  even  of  the  commercial  kind,  an  accomplish- 
ment which  no  police  and  no  people  have  ever  yet 
achieved;  but  their  work  in  that  direction  in  the  past 
five  years  has  been  greater  than  any  that  the  city  ever 
before  knew,  and  will  be  continued  by  all  means  at  their 
command  and  in  the  face  of  all  forms  of  public  hostility 
and  indifference. 

Fifth.  — The  Boston  Police  and  the  Liquor  Laws. 

The  laws  concerning  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors 
are  enforced  by  the  Boston  police  and  are  lived  up  to 
by  licensees  in  a manner  which  I feel  sure  is  unequalled 
in  any  other  large  city  in  the  United  States.  The  laws 
themselves  are  strict,  elaborate  and  complicated,  and 
the  further  conditions  imposed  by  the  licensing  authori- 
ties are  numerous.  Licensed  places  are  closed  within 
the  hours  and  on  Sundays  and  other  days  prescribed  by 


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the  laws.  The  “back  door”  of  the  saloon,  which  in 
other  large  cities  is  recognized  and  tolerated  by  the 
authorities  in  violation  of  their  own  laws,  is  not  known 
in  Boston,  and  the  saloon  itself  is  exposed  to  inspection 
by  the  public  and  the  police  at  all  hours  of  all  days. 
Violations  of  law  by  licensees  are  confined  almost 
exclusively  to  sales  made  to  minors  and  to  intoxicated 
persons,  and  to  sales  made  on  Sundays  and  prohibited 
holidays  by  hotels  operating  under  the  law  which  per- 
mits the  serving  of  liquors  to  persons  resorting  to  such 
hotels  for  food  or  lodging.  The  minor  is  not  easily 
identified,  especially  when  he  lies  as  to  his  age;  the 
degree  of  inebriation  which  brings  a person  under  the 
law  as  to  intoxication  has  not  been  and  cannot  be  defined 
by  the  law  itself;  and  the  provision  concerning  Sunday 
and  holiday  sales  by  hotels  is  susceptible  of  many 
evasions.  I believe  it  to  be  safe  to  say  that  wherever 
the  law  is  so  specific  as  to  afford  a reasonable  basis  for 
enforcement,  it  is  enforced;  and  that  the  line  of  incom- 
plete enforcement  runs  through  those  provisions  of  the 
law  which  are  themselves  uncertain  and  cannot  be 
made  clear  and  effective  at  all  times. 

The  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  by  unlicensed  persons 
has  long  been  carried  on  only  in  ways  so  cautious  and 
places  so  obscure  that  in  order  to  obtain  entrance  and 
evidence  the  police  are  compelled  to  resort  to  strategem 
and  disguises.  Under  those  conditions  the  prosecutions 
number  from  150  to  200  annually. 

Sixth. — The  Boston  Police  and  Gambling. 

No  professional  gambling  house  exists  in  Boston  and 
none  has  existed  for  a dozen  years.  This  is  a remarkable 
situation,  for  the  presence  of  many  such  houses  in 
other  cities  and  the  futile  efforts  of  the  authorities  to 
suppress  them  are  notorious.  Fifteen  years  ago  Boston, 
with  a much  smaller  population,  contained  perhaps  a 
score  of  houses  fitted,  furnished  and  carried  on  by  pro- 
fessional gamblers  for  gambling  on  a large  scale.  All 
have  long  since  been  forced  out  of  business  by  police 


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prosecutions,  and  they  have  no  successors.  The  gam-1 
bling  of  to-day  in  Boston  is  carried  on  spasmodically! 
and  on  a petty  scale  in  laundries,  lofts,  barns,  kitchens,! 
tailor  shops  and  like  places,  and  in  open  lots,  by  men 
and  boys  who  go  into  it  as  an  occasional  amusement, 
not  as  a means  of  living.  A few  men  are  concerned  in 
it  who  try  to  live  without  work  by  this  or  any  other 
method.  They  hire  a room  in  one  part  of  the  city  or] 
another  from  time  to  time,  but  soon  the  police  appear, 
strip  the  room  of  its  poor  fittings,  seize  a few  chips  andj 
playing  cards,  arrest  all  present  and  that  is  the  end  of 
that  particular  place.  Gambling  of  the  character  which 
alone  is  found  and  prosecuted  in  Boston  receives  practi-| 
cally  no  police  attention  in  other  large  cities. 

Seventh. — Law  the  Only  Police  Guide. 

Obedience  to  law,  with  the  use  of  none  but  lawful 
methods,  is  the  rule  of  action  in  the  Boston  Police  i 
Department.  To  such  obedience  policemen  are  required 
to  hold  themselves  as  well  as  to  hold  others.  They  are 
not  allowed  to  follow  unlawful  methods  for  the  sakef 
even  of  an  apparent  advantage  to  the  community,  for 
the  community  will  suffer  in  the  long  run  far  more  than 
it  can  possibly  gain  through  disregard  for  law  by  its 
police.  In  the  summary  which  I have  given  under 
the  seven  preceding  headings  I have  not  touched  the 
broad,  general  work  of  the  Boston  Police  Department; 
I have  attempted  merely  to  give  some  useful  infor- 
mation concerning  certain  subjects  which  are  always 
discussed  when  police  work  in  the  United  States  is 
under  consideration. 


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